- Title: Helicopters extinguish remaining fires in Lebanon
- Date: 16th October 2019
- Summary: BAAWARTA, LEBANON (OCTOBER 16, 2019) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF AIRCRAFT THROWING WATER ON FIRES VARIOUS OF SMOKE RISING FROM BURNING FOREST AIRCRAFT THROWING WATER ON FIRES SMOKE RISING FROM BURNING FOREST (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) DEPUTY HEAD OF BAAWARTA MUNICIPALITY, BADRI AL-AYYASH, SAYING: "Fires have been here for three days. They were big the first two days and in the beginning big parts of the village were burnt." DAMOUR, LEBANON (OCTOBER 16, 2019) (REUTERS) HELICOPTER CARRYING WATER FLYING PAST TOWNS BAAWARTA, LEBANON (OCTOBER 16, 2019) (REUTERS) HELICOPTER CARRYING WATER FLYING IN THE SKY AIRCRAFT DROPPING WATER ON FIRE IN FOREST AIRCRAFT FLYING DAMOUR, LEBANON (OCTOBER 16, 2019) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) HEAD OF ARCENCIEL CENTRE IN DAMOUR, ELIE ZOUEIN, SAYING: "We couldn't yet assess exactly what happened, and we can't yet know if the building needs renovation and or it will need to be demolished and built again, because apparently some of the main structures are cracked. I don't want to talk about something I don't know, experts will decide this. Our loss is very big regarding the centre." VARIOUS OF BURNT FRONT OF CENTRE OF NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION ARCENCIEL DAMAGES INSIDE ARCENCIEL CENTRE CAUSED BY FIRE VARIOUS OF VIEW OF BURNT BUILDING VARIOUS OF BURNT FOREST CLOSE TO ARCENCIEL CENTRE
- Embargoed: 30th October 2019 10:36
- Keywords: Lebanon lebanon fire environment climate change Lebanese civil defence
- Location: DAMOUR AND BAAWARTA, LEBANON
- City: DAMOUR AND BAAWARTA, LEBANON
- Country: Lebanon
- Topics: Disaster/Accidents,Fires
- Reuters ID: LVA001B1CKSAV
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Firefighting helicopters and planes on Wednesday (October 16) battled what is left of wildfires that have been burning for two days damaging buildings and scorching forests throughout Lebanon.
The fires have swept across the country since Monday (October 14) and started to fade out after heavy rainfall hit most affected areas. The flames burned swathes of forest and killed at least one person, prompting Beirut to deploy water cannons and to call on neighbouring countries like Cyprus and Greece for help.
In Damour, south of Beirut, a building for a local non-governmental organization Arcenciel caught fire on Tuesday (October 15). The head of the centre, Elie Zouein, said they have yet to assess the damages but their "loss is very big".
A civil defence official said earlier on Tuesday that 104 fires had broken out over the past 24 hours, and that residents had been evacuated from homes and buildings to minimize the toll.
The cause of the flames, which has spread from woods south of Beirut up to pine forests in the north, remains unknown, though some officials have blamed an autumn heatwave that hit the country in recent days.
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