May 31, 2012 01:28 AM
The Daily Star

KOURA, Lebanon: Despite rain earlier in the week, the summer fire season was off to an early start with three fires reported Wednesday. One fire erupted at 8 a.m. in an abandoned plot of land facing the Saint Joseph University campus in the village of Ras Masqa in north Lebanon.

The university’s administration called the Civil Defense, which sent only one fire truck that arrived two hours after the blaze had broken out. It was unable to contain the fire until a second truck arrived at 10:30 a.m.

Black clouds of smoke hovered over the area and extended over the Tripoli-Beirut highway.

Meanwhile, the National News Agency reported that two other fires had broken out. According to the NNA, members of the Civil Defense, in cooperation with the Lebanese Army, extinguished a fire near the Aley villages of Ain Ksour and Bnieh. A fire that broke out near the Chouf village of Meshref was also put out.

A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Daily Star on May 31, 2012, on page 4.

Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Local-News/2012/May-31/175212-summer-fire-season-erupts-with-triple-blaze.ashx#ixzz1wlobbfkI
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)