Beirut, Oct 5 (AFP/APP):Fierce forest fires, a monster explosion that killed friends, then more Beirut blazes; Lebanon’s emergency services are reeling from a devastating year, but are determined to press on. Lebanese firefighter Afraa Obeid, a 27-year-old woman with long black hair, recounted how she lost her close friend Sahar Fares in the August 4 Beirut port blast. Sahar, Obeid’s fellow female emergency worker, was among 10 colleagues killed when they rushed to the port to extinguish a blaze — and were then engulfed by the subsequent cataclysmic explosion. “It could have been me,” Obeid said, sitting inside the gutted shell of the capital’s main fire station. “I was there the next day to collect her remains. It was very hard.” The authorities had failed to tell the fire brigade of the giant shipment of fertiliser stored at the port. The port explosion, which killed more than 190 people and wounded thousands more, was only the latest blow in a year of tragedy for Lebanon and its fatigued firefighters. In the fall of 2019, ferocious forest fires ravaged huge areas south of Beirut, putting many lives at risk. The fires, which fuelled public resentment towards a ruling elite seen as … Continue reading Woes of Beirut rescuers ‘microcosm’ of troubled Lebanon