Firefighters backed by soldiers and volunteers are fighting Wednesday to try to stop the mad race of fires which have killed at least 65 people including 28 soldiers.
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune decreed a three-day national mourning from Thursday, according to a press release from the presidency.
These fires, for which the authorities have cited "criminal" leads, affect several regions of Kabylia, in particular the town of Tizi Ouzou.
Impressive images, accompanied by calls for help, circulate on social networks, with charred trunks, cattle dying, asphyxiated, and villages besieged by fire.
In AFP footage, residents can be seen desperately trying to smother a fire starting with branches.
Read also VIDEO.
Turkey: farmers try to save their animals from fires ravaging the country
As Algeria faces an extreme heat wave, winds are spreading the fires and complicating the task of rescuers, according to Youcef Ould Mohamed, a local forestry official quoted by the official APS agency.