Fires broke out on Thursday in the forests of Jebel Touila in the Kef governorate, as part of a wave of fires that have hit several areas in Tunisia recently under intense heat, according to the German news agency dpa.

Video clips published by state television showed a rapid spread of flames in the forests located in the Nibr delegation of the governorate, while thick clouds of smoke covered the area.

Record temperatures, approaching 50 degrees Celsius, have been affecting most parts of the country for about two weeks, accompanied by dry winds, which fueled fires in many highlands and forests. A day earlier, fires consumed vast areas of Jebel Nador in the Bizerte governorate in the north, where the efforts of firefighting teams and army units lasted about 16 hours before they were brought under control. In the last 24 hours, firefighting teams intervened to extinguish 296 fires, according to data published by the Civil Protection on Thursday. Tunisia loses thousands of hectares of forest area annually due to fires and rising temperatures under the impact of climate change.

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