ALGIERS / Hassan Jibril / Anadolu

One person died and another suffered severe burns from forest fires in Setif province, eastern Algeria.

Official Algerian radio said Tuesday that "Nasraqi Al-Arabi" (59 years old) died from a forest fire in the Beni Mouhli area of Setif province.

According to the same source, a second person who suffered severe burns in the area's fires was evacuated by helicopter to Algiers for treatment.

According to Algerian radio, the victim and the injured are "among the volunteers who rushed to help extinguish the ongoing fires in the area since Sunday."

Authorities sent major reinforcements to the area, including the army, gendarmerie, and civil protection, as well as hundreds of volunteers, along with firefighting aircraft, helicopters, and fire engines.

Earlier Tuesday, the Algerian Civil Protection Directorate announced in a statement that 124 fires had been fully extinguished out of 133 fires detected in the past 24 hours.

It stated that efforts to extinguish 9 fires are still ongoing in the provinces of Bejaia, Bouira, Setif, Saida, Sidi Bel Abbes, Mila, and Tizi Ouzou, located in different regions of the country's east, center, and west.

For days, large areas of northern Algeria have been experiencing major fires, fueled by record high temperatures and hot southerly winds known locally as 'Chehili'.

According to civil protection statistics, the number of fires recorded since Thursday has exceeded 500, including forests, scrubland, crops, fruit trees, and even palm oases in the desert.

Algeria has been experiencing drought waves and rising temperatures for years, increasing the risk of forest and vegetation fires.

In recent years, massive fires have caused dozens of deaths and injuries, and destroyed large areas of vegetation, prompting authorities to toughen punitive measures against those responsible for starting them, with penalties of up to 30 years in prison.