Tunisian wildfires lay waste to farms, expose fragile power and water systems

In the mountainous Kef governorate, a wildfire devastated the farm of Mongi Abdeli, killing ten sheep on the spot and two more the following day from smoke inhalation, while also destroying his beehives, more than one hundred olive trees and every almond tree he cultivated. The fire was one of dozens that blazed across Tunisia this summer as a severe heatwave drove temperatures close to 50 °C, with civil protection noting an unprecedented scale and attributing most outbreaks to human negligence.

The surge in temperature spiked electricity consumption, prompting the state-run utility STEG to implement daily power rationing and rolling cuts to protect the aging grid, leaving many households without cooling, refrigeration or running water. Families like that of Mahjoub Chouakhia lost livestock feed, chickens and hunting dogs, and were refused restoration of water and electricity when they appealed. The compounded losses have intensified concerns over Tunisia's under-invested energy sector, which relies heavily on imported natural gas and suffers from decades of insufficient grid upgrades.