Algerian firefighters are battling an unprecedented wave of wildfires stretching from the centre of the country to its far east, with flare-ups still burning this week in Setif and Guelma. The coastal province of Jijel has suffered worst: some 1,200 square kilometres of forest have burned, at least twelve people have died and fifty-four have been injured, and many fear the true toll is far higher. Dozens of families have been evacuated. Villages that lived among olive groves and cedar forests now stand in ash, with survivors treated for burns in Algiers hospitals and the nation observing days of mourning. We pray for the bereaved and the burned, for families sheltering with neighbours, and for the firefighters, soldiers and relief convoys now streaming toward the villages - may the flames die down, and may every family be helped home.