Wildfires in Algeria

As Turkey and Greece recorded significantly lower death tolls than Algeria in the face of similarly widespread and intense wildfires, Algerians started to question why their state has been unable to respond as effectively to the crisis.

The international community’s relative indifference to the situation in Algeria and the lack of up-to-date firefighting technologies and equipment in the country has so far been presented as the leading reasons.

Indeed, this tragedy clearly demonstrated that in recent years there have not been any serious investment in the firefighting and forestry services in Algeria. Firefighters in the country are not adequately trained and equipped to deal with fires of this magnitude. Most importantly, Algeria does not have the necessary aerial firefighting power to respond to such fires efficiently. If the country had firefighting planes, they undoubtedly would have put out the fires more quickly and with fewer or no casualties. Firefighters did their best with limited equipment and no aerial support. They achieved some success in limiting the damage but overall proved powerless in tackling the blaze.

Acknowledging that its firefighters are not equipped to handle a crisis of this scale on their own, Algeria’s government sent in the military. But the soldiers too did not have the necessary equipment, or training, to quickly contain the blaze and keep themselves safe in the process. As a result, at least according to official numbers, 28 soldiers lost their lives in the fires.

The inaccessibility of the disaster zone was also an obstacle. The mountainous terrain that prevented fire engines from getting close to the blast made the operation extremely difficult. As successive Algerian regimes failed to invest in forestry services, there was no plan in place to access these areas at a time of crisis.

Finally, the world turned a blind eye to the situation in Algeria for too long and international help did not come quickly enough to spare the country the devastation.

Early in the crisis, Morocco’s King Mohammed VI offered to help the Algerian authorities in their efforts to contain the fires. He said two firefighting planes were on standby, waiting for approval from Algiers, to fly to the affected areas of the Kabyle region. The relationship between Morocco and Algeria has been tense for decades, due to the two neighbouring nations’ conflicting stances on not only the Western Sahara conflict but also the separatist movement in Kabylia. Recently, the Moroccan ambassador to the United Nations referred to the Kabylia region as an ‘Algerian colony’ and declared his support for the region’s right to self-determination. In response, Algiers recalled its ambassador to Rabat and left the door open to further measures. Hence, Algeria’s approval for Morocco’s offer of help never came.

Unwilling to accept any help from Morocco, the Algerian authorities turned to the wider international community, and particularly the European Union, for help. The EU agreed to dispatch two firefighting planes to Algeria, but only after they complete their missions to put out the fires in Greece and Turkey. It quickly became clear that Greece and Turkey were the EU’s priority, and helping Algeria was only an afterthought for the union.

Excerpted: ‘Why did wildfires claim so many lives in Algeria?’

Aljazeera.com