Latakia-SANA
The firefighting system in Lattakia Governorate continues its efforts to reduce the losses caused by fires, especially in the forests, with the implementation of coordination procedures between firefighting teams and cooperation with the local community and committees formed for this purpose, in addition to supporting the firefighting system in the province with firefighting teams and their mechanisms from several governorates.
The Director of Agriculture, Bassem Doba, explained to SANA reporter that a plan was prepared to confront the fire season, starting from the fifth month, and with the beginning of the autumn season, which is considered the peak of the spread of fires in the forests, all firefighting teams were placed at the highest levels of readiness, which includes in the Agriculture Directorate alone 13 rapid intervention teams and 5 Forest protection centers and the preparation of fire engines, tractors, tanks, water fountains and watchtowers, in addition to the completion, before this period, of the restoration of forest roads.
He pointed out that the current period is considered the height of the fires due to the activity of dry winds, blowing east winds, delayed rainfall, and a high percentage of drought in plants, which makes this stage the most dangerous in terms of fire outbreak and spread.
Doba pointed to the great cooperation with the Ministry of Local Administration, Environment and the Governorate through the establishment of advanced fire brigade centers in the remote countryside in Dalyeh, Al-Fakhoura, Kassab, Harf Al-Masitra, and Sannafa, considering that this contributes to achieving rapid response and greater intervention and covering areas until the arrival of the mechanisms of the Directorate of Agriculture in case of need.
Doba indicated that the province's firefighting system was also strengthened by supplying it with 6 firefighting vehicles from Damascus and Aleppo with their crews during this period, which were placed in separate areas of the province distributed over Qardaha, Al Haffa, Jableh and Lattakia to achieve support and increase the efficiency of the firefighting system.
Doba explained that what distinguishes the work during this year is the launch of the fire platform in coordination with the General Authority for Remote Sensing, which has become a key role in determining the severity of fires in forests according to certain factors that help the firefighting system determine priorities and deploy its crews to deal with situations as a precaution.
He pointed out that the activation of local committees in the administrative units also had a prominent role in contributing to awareness of the danger of fires and wrong practices, as well as reporting fires if they occur and helping to put them out.
The Director of Agriculture stressed that these measures combined had clear results in terms of a decrease in the number of fires and the areas affected by them, compared to previous years.
A firefighting group from the Adra Industrial City regiment has been in the Forest Protection Center in Qastal Maaf affiliated with the Directorate of Agriculture since the beginning of this month as part of efforts to support the firefighting system in the governorate during this period. Extinguishing in the Directorate of Agriculture until the end of the height of the fire season.
In turn, firefighter Muhammad Suleiman Abdul Wahed indicated that the task of the group is to support the people and the firefighting system in putting out the fires, pointing out that the group is one of several groups distributed over different areas to achieve the highest response rate.
Bassam Ibrahim
