Deadly fires have become an annual scourge in Algeria, where climate change has turned large areas of forest into a tinderbox in the blistering summer months.
Authorities have been accused of being ill-prepared, with few firefighting aircraft available despite record casualties in last year's blazes and a cash windfall from gas exports amid soaring global energy prices.
Fire service spokesman Farouk Achour told AFP late Thursday that 16 fires were still burning across seven districts but that those in the worst-hit eastern areas, El Tarf and Souk Ahras, were under control.
In Souk Ahras, a large crowd gathered to mourn five members of the same family who perished in the flames.
The justice ministry launched an inquiry after Interior Minister Kamel Beldjoud suggested some of the fires were deliberately started, and authorities on Thursday announced four arrests of suspected arsonists.
At least 38 people have been killed including more than 10 children and 10 firefighters, according to multiple sources, including local journalists and the fire service.
Most were in the El Tarf region near Algeria's eastern border with Tunisia, an area which has been sweltering in 48 degree Celsius (118 Fahrenheit) heat.
At least 200 more people have suffered burns or respiratory problems, according to various Algerian media.
Algerian television showed people fleeing burning homes, women carrying children in their arms.
A journalist in El Tarf described "scenes of devastation" on the road to El Kala, a northeastern seaport.
"A tornado of fire swept everything away in seconds," he told AFP by telephone.
An AFP team in El Kala saw burned-out cars, exhausted people and charred trees amid the strong smell of smoke.
A witness, who asked not to be named, said 12 people had burned to death in their bus as they tried to escape when the fire ripped through an animal park.
Takeddine, a worker at the park who declined to give his full name, said staff had helped families with young children to escape as fire surrounded the park.
"Nobody came to help us, neither the fire service nor anyone else," he told AFP.
One of his colleagues died in the process, he added.
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