Army deploys helicopters to fight North Lebanon wildfire

BEIRUT — The army has deployed helicopters as it, alongside Civil Defense and volunteer teams, battles to extinguish a wildfire that erupted Tuesday night in the pine forests on the outskirts of the towns of Batramaz and al-Safira in the Dinnieh area of North Lebanon.

Here’s what we know:

    • Caretaker Environment Minister Nasser Yassin headed to Dinnieh this morning to follow up on the measures taken to put out the fire. Yassin commented, “The army military helicopters began their mission in contributing to extinguishing the fire this morning.”

    • The Disaster Risk Management Unit in the Grand Serail announced that the unit's National Operations Room has been activated, and the fire is being addressed in coordination with the relevant ministries and agencies, the state-run National News Agency reported.

    • According to our correspondent in the region, civil society groups from neighboring areas have headed to Dinnieh to help in the firefighting efforts.

    • Civil Defense fire fighting teams and environmental activists from Dinnieh and from the Akkar Darb Association, which was set up to fight forest fires, headed to the area with two fire extinguishing trucks, our correspondent in the area reported.

    • Hundreds of hectares of woodland in Akkar, North Lebanon were engulfed in flames last summer. In addition to natural factors like strong winds and the inaccessibility of some locations, Civil Defense teams also have had to contend with challenges such as a lack of equipment and financing due to the country’s prolonged economic crisis, adding to the challenges in combating wildfires.