A chain of wildfires are raging out of control throughout several regions in Algeria on Wednesday. Ali Mahmoudi, the forests director general, said authorities counted 86 fire spots in 17 provinces. In Tizi Ouzou, there are 30 huge fires, amid frantic efforts by firemen and Civil Defense teams to put out the blazes. The Algerian president has declared Wednesday as start of three days of mourning for victims of the fires. The flames have taken lives of 69 persons, including military personnel. Firefighters, troops and civilian volunteers battled blazes in forests across northern Algeria on Wednesday as the country reeled at a death toll in the latest wildfires to hit the Mediterranean. Soldiers deployed to back the overstretched emergency services tackle the rash of more than 50 fires that broke out on Tuesday accounted for 28 of those killed, state television reported. The authorities say they suspect widespread arson after so many fires erupted in such a short space of time. They have announced several arrests but have yet to elaborate on the identity or suspected motives of those detained. Images of trapped villagers, terrified livestock and forested hillsides reduced to blackened stumps were shared on social media, many of them accompanied by pleas for help. Witnesses saw villagers desperately trying to put out the spreading fires with makeshift brooms in an effort to save their homes. High winds fuelled the rapid spread of the fires in the tinder-dry conditions created by a heat wave across North Africa and the wider Mediterranean, fire official Youcef Ould Mohamed told the state-run APS news agency. There have been mounting calls for aid convoys to be sent to the worst-hit districts with food and medicine from the capital. An appeal for volunteer doctors to assist the city's overstretched medical services also appeared on Facebook. Meteorologists expect the heat wave across North Africa to continue until the end of the week, with temperatures in Algeria reaching 46 degrees Celsius (115 degrees Fahrenheit). In neighboring Tunisia, the capital Tunis hit an all-time record of 49 degrees Celsius (120 degrees Fahrenheit) on Tuesday. The Tunisian emergency services reported 15 fires across the north and northwest, but no casualties. — Agencies
