Some of the trees in Akkar province are more than 100 years old, says Mohammed Abdallah. A refugee from the war just over the border in Syria, Abdallah has come to know the forests of northern Lebanon well and has spent recent days putting out a persistent blaze that threatened ancient woodland near Qabeit.
He is one of 80 men and women of the First Responders team of Jurd al-Qayteh, drawn from 15 villages in Akkar, the region’s largest volunteer firefighting unit. Wildfires are responsible for 26% of tree loss in Lebanon over the past 20 years. Rising temperatures and poor forest management have contributed to an increase this year in a season that lasts about 18 weeks through to late September. With the country in economic crisis, emergency services like firefighters are in disarray.
“I don’t have any land or trees of my own, but I wanted to get involved and help save the forests,” says Abdallah, a carpenter who came to Lebanon with his family in 2012 to escape the war.
Mohammed Zakaria, director of First Responders, says funding fire services isn’t a priority for Lebanon’s government. “Our nearest fire brigade has one vehicle covering 15 villages, and it’s too big to access deeper parts of the forest.”
Satellite images of Akkar studied by the University of Balamand showed more than 1,500 hectares (3,700 acres) were destroyed by fire last year.
Raymond Khattar, head of the civil defence – Lebanon’s frontline rescue force – said 95% of forest fires are caused “whether on purpose or not” by people burning wood for cooking and heating.
“The people are heavily affected by the fires. They are losing their farmlands and their heritage,” says Rayane al-Ahmad, a student and First Responder.
The group, with training from the civil defence, began patrols this summer. “We learned how to enter the forest carefully and strategically, without endangering ourselves. We’re not replacing the fire brigade; we’re here to help them,” says Abdallah.
Khaled Taleb, founder of Akkar Trail, an eco-tourism agency, set up a volunteer team in 2020 after watching a blaze destroy woods near his home.
“We set up WhatsApp groups so that people can warn us of a fire in their area,” he says. “We have two pickup trucks ready to be deployed.”
Taleb believes his team is more effective than traditional firefighters. “Our vehicles are smaller and our equipment is lighter, which gives us faster and better access into the forest.”
The volunteers are also improving community relations – Syria’s war drove about 1.5 million refugees into Lebanon and Akkar hosts most of them. Lebanon’s own economic crash began in 2019 and has driven more than 80% of the population into poverty, creating new tensions. In July, a Syrian refugee camp in Akkar was torched after a dispute with local people.
“The group [First Responders] has broken the barrier between Syrians and Lebanese,” says Abdallah, “We drink the same water, live under the same trees and eat the same bread.”
Zakaria agrees: “When Syrians joined us to put out fires, we all felt a strong sense of hope that we were part of the same land, and that we can help each other.”
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