Civil Defence personnel in Irbid, backed by helicopters from the Royal Air Force, as well as personnel from the Jordan Armed Forces-Arab Army and relevant departments in the northern Jordan Valley, on Monday extinguished a "huge” fire that spread from the western side of the Jordan River on the Israeli side to agricultural areas in Jordan, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The fire broke out at 4:30pm, on the border strip of the Jordan River within the Al Baqoura area, and spread over several kilometres and destroyed forest trees, reeds and dry grass along the Jordan River before reaching palm plantations in the area.

The concerned authorities prevented the spread of the fire over larger agricultural areas, Petra reported, adding that crews are still in a state of alert in anticipation of a renewed breakout of fire.

Fires spreading from west of the Jordan River to Jordanian agricultural areas are a recurring occurrence during summer, the last of which was a fire that broke out in the areas of Zour Al Mashari and Sheikh Hussein at the end of last May, causing material losses to farmers.