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Inaam Awad does not believe that the fire that destroyed her home in Debbieh, on the Chouf coast, occurred a year ago. “Umm Ali” has been “burning” ever since. His heart is not only what ignites with force the necessities, furniture, clothes and memories that were consumed by the fire, but also the bones of his neck and back after the burning of the medical pillow, which he could not buy after the high prices. That day, the fire of shame behind her ground-floor house spread to every detail in her diary. The woman, who lives with her husband in a store located in the same building, has lost everything. The tension of the situation, which increased with the escalation of the economic crisis and the collapse of the exchange rate of the lira, impeded its ability to replace all that it had lost. With the help of some philanthropists and NGOs, two rooms in the house “belonging to my relatives” were renovated. With “comfortable installments” he fixed the windows and painted the walls, but could not remove the fire marks from the tiles due to the high cost of cleaning them, since some neighbors supplied him with clothes and furniture. The “state” was not among those who helped him. Many “from the municipality came to the army, the gendarmerie, the High Relief Commission, the civil associations… We filled out various forms in which we counted the size of the damage and the losses we suffered. We promised to obtain compensation that we are still waiting for.
The effects of the fires are still in the Debbieh forests today. Green did not grow on scorched earth. The tree structures around him stood like charred corpses, witnessing what happened and what could happen at any moment. The “Burning Tree Exhibition” stretches along the entire Chouf coast, from Dibbiyeh to Mazraat Dahr and Joun to Iqlim al-Kharroub and Naameh. In Damour Hills, a year ago, the forest fire spread to the headquarters of the association “Arkansas”, which sells used furniture. The three-story building, which was the destination of the limited and fans of “antica” and old designs, has been burned most of its contents. A year later, the association displayed new elements on the ground floor amid the charred walls and ruined ceilings.
The largest “blackboard” is still “on display”, for a year, in Mushrif Hills. The small town, which is located in the middle of millions of meters of forest, was not affected by the fires of the last days. Pierre and Juliet Nasr hold their breath at the prospect of recapturing last year’s nightmare. With live meat and a small “jug”, they ran to put out the fire that spread to their field near their home in Mushrif. Goliath cries after a year of the incident: “We are still exposed at any moment. But there is no trick in hand. “Villas and palaces in the region, their owners did not wait for state compensation. Currently, transporters and foreign workers are busy clearing dry brush on their border. But individual efforts are not accompanied The “Ideal Al-Mushrif Company”, which includes these villages, had noticed the creation of water intakes to extinguish fires. But the intakes have not been maintained for long and have not been used to extinguish the fires of the last year, despite the availability of water sources. “Our hand has been on our hearts since the beginning of this month, fearing a repeat of last year’s disaster,” said Mayor Zahir Aoun. A year ago, “ the resources of the municipality were zero. Today, after the moderator has addressed the kiss of official and popular attention, the level of potential has risen to a little above zero “! Aoun affirms that so A few NGOs continued to support and follow up after the “turmoil” subsided. One of the associations has persevered over the last period in clearing the forest and creating corridors inside it to facilitate the intervention process and reach the depth of shame in case of fire. He also trained several residents, in cooperation with the Lebanese Red Cross, on how to control the fire when it starts to happen to prevent it from spreading. In exchange for volunteers, the municipality provided limited means of dealing with potential fires and conducted constant patrols to monitor the forests by loggers and hikers. In anticipation of the usual fire season, the municipalities of Al-Mushrif and Kfarmatta and the neighboring municipalities have worked for about a month to clear the forests and remove weeds from the sides of the roads. And “With a donation from the residents of the Al-Mushrif Model Village, the municipality bought a small water tank to fight the fire and agreed with two tank owners to make it available to the municipality in the event of the incident. Since civil defense firefighting vehicles only arrive and their tank is empty of water, we have equipped the wells that pass through the city as part of the Al-Awali to Beirut water project, with a generator and fuel for pump water without interruption. In addition to hiring a person to maintain the pumping station. Regarding the water intakes in the model village, “one of the donors promised to maintain them because the municipality cannot repair them due to the high cost of repair.” Aoun acknowledges that these capabilities are capable of dealing with a small fire. What if the disaster was repeated last year? “Let it not be repeated, since the civil defense fire station closest to us in Damour has been operating for some time with a fire truck, because the rest of the vehicles are out of service. The same situation is in the nearby Debbieh center. “
Aoun and his colleagues in neighboring municipalities wrote to the Ministry of Agriculture to authorize the felling of burning trees and allow people to benefit from them in light of high fuel prices. The ministry revealed the scorched earth and has yet to make a decision. In Mushrif, the municipality planted around 1,500 pine trees to replace part of what was burned. What is required, according to Aoun, is to support the ministry to plant alternative trees that will resist fire and grow back, such as carob, laurel and oak.
The Civil Defense apologizes: our machines are damaged
The situation of the chiefs of the municipalities of Tire, Bint Jbeil, Nabatiyeh, Marjeyoun, Akkar, Al-Qayʻa and Al-Minya in the last two days has not been better than the situation of their colleagues in the coastal municipalities of Chouf last year. The 2020 version of the fires focused on the south and Akkar. But, the result is the same. Residents faced the fires that threatened their homes and livelihoods with raw flesh and limited resources.
The head of the Civil Defense Shooting Center, Ali Safi al-Din, apologized this Saturday to those besieged by the fire because the only viable mechanism in the Shooting Center had broken down, to join the six that were later interrupted and await the approval of the Ministry of the Interior and Municipalities to sign a maintenance contract. Safi El-Din’s cry was followed by the shouts of several of his colleagues from the heads of the civil defense centers in the regions that are partially functioning due to the failure of their mechanisms. “Al-Akhbar” has reviewed the Civil Defense Directorate, without obtaining a response, because its director, Brigadier General Raymond Khattar, is traveling abroad, while the Information Office closes its doors on Saturday and Sunday .
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