By Mohammed Zaatari SIDON: Patients of the Fanar psychiatric hospital in Sidon survived a terrible fire Monday, as several blazes broke out across the country over recent days.
Meanwhile, the meteorological department expected the country’s unseasonably hot temperatures, which are the main cause behind the fire, to decrease.
The Fanar Hospital fire broke out in a pine forest close to the medical facility in the southern city of Sidon and it spread into the building, where patients and medical experts helped Civil Defense units extinguish the flames.
The blaze almost reached the hospital kitchen and firefighters needed more than three hours to put it out. The hot weather and warm wind were said to have aggravated the situation.
Hospital director Samar al-Labban said that while a number of patients were participating in an agricultural activity in the hospital gardens, a fire broke out and the patients were transferred to an indoor garden.
However, the flames kept expanding and hospital personnel had to move everyone to the main building.
Labban rejected the possibility of arson from within the hospital and said: “All these patients are wonderful and they consider the hospital their home.”
“All the patients and all members of staff helped douse the flames and if it weren’t for them the fire would have reached the kitchen where a 1-ton gas container is placed in addition to electricity generators and diesel containers,” she added.
Abdel-Majeed was at the garden with his fellow patients when the fire started and said the first thing he saw was a burning palm tree.
The fire was not the first to have erupted in the region, according to the head of the south Lebanon Civil Defense center Abdullah al-Sharqawi.
“The strongest fire, however, was at the Fanar Hospital,” he said, noting that six firefighting units were called to the hospital and they received support from the Lebanese Army.
“Fortunately, we were able to control the fire before any of the patients were hurt,” he added.
The Civil Defense Directorate said in a statement that its members and volunteers undertook 196 firefighting operations at the start of the week.
In the south, the blazes were located in the villages of Marwanieh, Sarafand, Ghassanieh, Khirbet al-Dweir, Al-Matarieh, Anqoun, Sarba, Blida, Jarjou and Shhabieh.
A fire started in Iqlim al-Kharroub Sunday and spread to the villages of Shhim and Daria.
Lebanese Army helicopters interfered to put out the flames with the help of Civil Defense members and village locals but their efforts were not successful until 9:30 Monday morning.
Initial investigations revealed that large spaces of olive, almond and oak trees were destroyed in the fire, in addition to vineyards and thousands of square meters of forest land.
In Beirut, a fire erupted in Choueifat and in Mount Lebanon Civil Defense units combated blazes in Qabrshmoun and Hamana.
Civil Defense officials confirmed that the unusually high temperatures Lebanon has been witnessing contributed to the spread of the fires.
Meanwhile, the meteorological department at the Civil Aviation Department foresaw a partially cloudy weather and a slight decrease in temperatures for Tuesday and Wednesday.
Temperatures Wednesday are expected to vary between 16 degrees Celsius and 29 degrees Celsius on the coast, between 9 degrees Celsius and 26 degrees Celsius in the mountains, between 13 degrees Celsius and 27 degrees Celsius in the Bekaa and between 10 degrees Celsius and 18 degrees Celsius in the Cedars.
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