Tunisia contains wildfire that burned more than 30 hectares of forest

Tunisian firefighting teams on Wednesday brought a wildfire under control after it burned more than 30 hectares (74 acres) of forest in the northwestern province of Jendouba, damaging homes and killing livestock.

According to Tunisia's state news agency, firefighting crews from the Civil Protection Authority, the Forestry Department, and the military, supported by volunteers, extinguished the blaze that broke out Tuesday evening in the Fernana and Balta-Bou Aouane districts.

The fire damaged several homes, burned more than 30 hectares of forest, killed livestock and destroyed quantities of dry fodder and firewood, the sources said.

Residents said the flames spread to several villages, including Oued El Tout, Chagher, Sidi Hmida and Chawaoula, near the Bouhertma Dam, an area that has experienced repeated wildfires. They described the latest blaze as one of the largest in recent years in terms of the area burned and the scale of damage.

Footage aired by Tunisian state television showed a military aircraft assisting firefighting operations by dropping water to prevent the flames from spreading further.

On Tuesday, Mohsen Bougazala, head of operations continuity at Tunisia's Civil Protection Authority, said firefighting teams had fully contained recent forest fires in four provinces.

Speaking to private radio station Diwan FM, Bougazala said all the fires had entered the monitoring phase following extinguishing and cooling operations, while emergency crews remained on standby to prevent flare-ups.

He said the most significant fire broke out on July 11 in Jebel Echahma in the Zaghouan governorate, with additional fires reported in the provinces of Siliana Governorate, Beja Governorate, and Kef Governorate.

Preliminary estimates indicate that the Jebel Echahma wildfire alone damaged more than 400 hectares (988 acres), pending completion of field assessments, he added.

Tunisia has been experiencing an intense heat wave in recent days, prompting repeated warnings from civil protection authorities, which say record temperatures, drought conditions and hot winds have significantly increased the risk of fast-spreading wildfires.