Wildfires in northern Algeria kill at least 12 as heatwave grips North Africa

Wildfires raging across northern Algeria have killed at least 12 people and injured dozens more, officials said, as the region battles another spell of extreme summer heat.

Interior Minister Said Sayoud said late Wednesday that five people died in Jijel province, four in Bejaia and three in Tizi Ouzou. At least 54 people were treated for burn injuries, including six who remained in intensive care.

Sayoud traveled to Bejaia with Health Minister Mohamed Seddik Ait Messaoudene to review firefighting and evacuation efforts, government officials said.

Civil protection authorities said dozens of blazes were burning through several provinces along the northern coastline. Firefighters were battling 69 fires nationwide as of Wednesday evening.

Local broadcaster Jijel News aired footage of residents sheltering in a post office as thick clouds of smoke swirled around them. Many homes in Bejaia and Jijel were evacuated, according to the civil protection agency and local media.

The latest deaths come after a brutal start to Algeria's fire season. Last month, at least six people were killed in more than 2,000 blazes recorded across the country in July alone. The Bejaia region also suffered devastating fires three years ago, when 30 people died as flames tore through forest and farmland.

The blazes follow weeks of intense heat in North Africa, with Algeria and neighboring Tunisia among the hardest hit. The World Meteorological Organization has identified North Africa as the fastest-warming part of the continent, with temperatures rising about 0.43C (0.77F) per decade from 1991 to 2025.

Climate experts say rising temperatures and drier conditions are increasing the frequency and intensity of wildfires across the Mediterranean. The heat is also affecting wildlife: a recent study in Algeria found rising summer temperatures have led to more camel deaths, a sign that the region's heat is testing even the desert's most heat-tolerant animals.