Fires contained in Minyeh, Bchamoun and the Bekaa

Three fires occurred on Saturday in Minyeh in North Lebanon, in Bchamoun in Mount Lebanon, and in Taybeh in the Bekaa Valley.

This morning, a fire broke out at the Miniyeh waste sorting center, generating thick clouds of smoke. Civil Defense teams from Minyeh were dispatched to the scene to extinguish the blaze and prevent it from spreading to nearby farmland and residential areas, according to the National News Agency (NNA). Concerned for their health and the environment, residents issued urgent appeals to the authorities and to the head of the municipal council, requesting that bulldozers be sent to cover the site with soil and contain the fire. “The nauseating odors coming from the burning waste are harmful to health and the environment,” the residents emphasized, calling for swift measures to prevent the situation from worsening.

Earlier, a fire had also broken out in a wheat field in the Taybeh plain in the Bekaa, near a tourist complex, our regional correspondent Sarah Abdallah reported on Saturday. The fire destroyed the wheat field. Civil Defense teams were able to contain the blaze and prevent it from spreading to nearby houses.

In the late afternoon, a major fire broke out in Bchamoun, according to our correspondent in South Lebanon.

Several fires have recently been reported in many Lebanese regions, fueled by a heat wave. In early May, the international environmental advocacy group Greenpeace sounded the alarm about the effects of climate change in Lebanon. In this regard, Lebanese Agriculture Minister Nizar Hani recalled that he had declared a state of emergency in the forestry sector to prevent disasters.

Incendies à Minié, à Bchamoun et dans la Békaa