Arson suspected in Ajloun forest fire

AMMAN — A fire on Saturday erupted in a forest in the Um Al Mayadin area near Ajloun Castle for the second time within a few days and destroyed tens of perennial trees, Ajloun Agriculture Director Fayad Hawarat said. 

Noting that arson is suspected in the incident, Hawarat said having potentially man-made fires in the same area shows it is a target for illegal logging purposes, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. 

The suspected arsonists reportedly burned tyres at different locations of the forest to make it hard to extinguish the fire. 

The first fire, also an act of arson, erupted on Thursday and extended over 10 dunums, destroying endangered trees like Greek junipers, pistacia, maple and oak, Ajloun Civil Defence Director (CDD) Col. Hani Smadi said at the time.

An estimated 150 trees were destroyed in the latest incidents.

Ajloun CDD firefighters dealt with 32 fires in forests and on farmlands during the Eid Al Fitr holiday earlier this month, Smadi said in previous remarks.

The fires destroyed hundreds of trees as well as dried grass.

Ajloun Governorate contains 140,000 dunums of forests that cover 34 per cent of its total area.

Forests in Jordan constitute less than 1 per cent of the country’s total area of 97,000 square kilometres.

The Kingdom is among the poorest countries worldwide in terms of forest cover, with the internationally accepted average of land covered by forests standing at 15 per cent of the total area.