Lebanon issues plea for help in tackling wild fires
▶ Officials struggle to respond to news that Beirut’s three firefighting helicopters have not worked in years
Lebanon asked for international help after it struggled to contain forest fires that have spread across the country since Monday.
The death of a volunteer who was assisting firefighters has raised questions about the state’s lack of preparedness despite fires being a regular occurrence at this time of year.
High winds and a rise in temperatures exacerbated forest fires that were particularly devastating in the Chouf region, a mountainous area south-east of Beirut famous for its cedars and forest reserves.
Videos on social media showed flames threatening villages under an orange sky and the charred remains of pine forests.
Lebanese media reported that a young man, Salim Abou Mujahed, died of a heart attack while trying to help civil defence units in extinguishing the fires.
Four houses were burnt to the ground in the Meshref area while flames reached the balconies of surrounding houses after residents fled, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported. Several shops along a motorway outside Beirut were destroyed.
A garage owner reportedly lost 11 cars in the blaze and images online showed police bringing in water cannon used for crowd control to assist.
According to the National News Agency, large areas of land and olive trees were burnt in the Akkar region in north Lebanon, with flames reaching close to mobile-phone towers.
Yesterday there were 103 fires burning all over Lebanon, said the director of civil defence, Brig Gen Raymond Khattar. Five civil defence volunteers were injured.
Over the past few days, temperatures soared in Lebanon, often exceeding 30°C, which is “three or four degrees higher than they have been over the past 150 years”, Nadim Farajalla of the American University of Beirut, told The National.
The intensity of the fires, coupled with the country’s insufficient means to fight them, shocked Lebanon.
President Michel Aoun, Prime Minister Saad Hariri and Justice Minister Albert Serhan all called for an investigation into the cause of the blazes.
Mr Hariri said that if the fires turn out to have been started intentionally, those responsible “will pay a price”.
Natural forest fires are normal in Lebanon but many are either the result of arson or caused by negligent farmers clearing their land, George Mitri, director of the land and natural resources programme at the University of Balamand said.
In 2009, three Sikorsky S-70 firefighting helicopters were donated to the government but fell into disrepair. The inability of the government to operate these aircraft caused outrage.
“It’s very unfortunate that these three helicopters have not participated in the firefighting,” said Ziad Baroud, who was interior minister at the time they were bought.
The Lebanese government did not “pay a penny” for the helicopters, which can carry 4,000 litres of water each, he said. Businesspeople, the Association of Lebanese Banks and even university students funded their purchase at a cost of $13.9 million (Dh51m).
However, the state had to fork out $450,000 a year for their upkeep, “which is nothing compared with the costs caused by a fire and losses in green areas and [private] properties”, Mr Baroud said. The total cost of damage caused by the latest fires has yet to be established.
It remains unclear when exactly all the helicopters were grounded, although Mr Baroud said they were “used in no less than 11 firefighting operations between 2009 and 2012”.
A spokeswoman for Interior Minister Raya El Hassan told Lebanese newspaper The Daily Star that “there is no money in the treasury – there is no money to do maintenance”.
The country is facing a financial crisis.
Yesterday, Mr Aoun called for an investigation to determine who was responsible for the Sikorsky aircraft “not working in years ... as well as the quick inspection of the three aircraft and speeding up the provision of spare parts”.
In the absence of dedicated firefighting helicopters, the Lebanese army stepped in with four helicopters to help civil defence units. But they struggled to contain the fires because of “heavy smoke and high tension transmission lines which sometimes blocked rapid and effective intervention”, according to an army statement released yesterday.
The army’s helicopters can carry 700 litres of water, which is not enough to extinguish major blazes, Mr Mitri said.
Cyprus and Greece responded to Mrs El Hassan’s call for help from neighbouring countries, sending helicopters, fixed-wing aircraft and firefighting equipment.
The Progressive Socialist Party, which has strong support in the Chouf region, also announced that Jordan would send a helicopter.
Environment Minister Fadi Jreissati attempted to calm tensions yesterday as he inspected damage caused by fires in the region, saying that “today is not the time for denunciation but to secure money to buy equipment for the civil defence”.
Mr Jreissati announced that army and Environment Ministry representatives would travel to Spain to buy two firefighting helicopters.
“Sikorsky aircraft are not technically appropriate to intervene,” he said, although he did not elaborate on the technical failures.
The last time Lebanon suffered from such ferocious forest fires was in 2007, when the situation was so bad it pushed the government to develop a national strategy for fire management that has never been carried out, Mr Mitri said.
“They do not consider it as a priority and that’s a problem. Fires are increasing for different reasons, such as lack of maintenance or people abandoning their agricultural lands,” he said.
Lebanon’s civil defence teams have only 200 fire engines – which are not enough to tackle the latest fires – and the country lacks the necessary firefighting aircraft, Mr Mitri said.
The situation was expected to be brought under control by today as weather improves, but what Lebanon really needs is better prevention, Mr Mitri said.
Against the backdrop of a red-tinged inferno, a reporter from a Lebanese television network broke down in tears during a live overnight broadcast.
“I really can’t help myself. People are screaming in their houses. People are stuck,” she cried.
There were no reports of casualties as of yesterday afternoon.
“I hope that the government will look into what happened these past two days very seriously and start thinking of how to prevent fires next season and not wait until then.
“Lebanon lacks a management plan – there are no inventories of our forests and no harvesting plans. Conditions are very bad,” Mr Mitri said.
In 2009, three Sikorsky S-70 helicopters were donated to the Lebanese government but fell into disrepair