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Buenos Aires (AFP) – Several sources of fire have been active for weeks in the Argentine provinces of Neuquén, Río Negro and Chubut (south), where the flames have consumed thousands of hectares of native forest, amid adverse weather conditions, according to the authorities.
Drought, high temperatures and changing winds make it difficult to control the fires that began in early December and multiplied with scattered sources.
In Aluminé, to the west of the Neuquén province and in the Andean region 1,500 km southwest of Buenos Aires, the fire is advancing uncontrollably in an uninhabited area. The fire consumed some 3,900 hectares of native pine and araucaria forests, reported the mayor’s office.
“We have a front of approximately 4,000 meters that continues to advance towards the southwest,” Aluminé mayor Jorge Lara told local radio LU5.
The Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development, Juan Cabandié, toured the affected area days ago and ordered the reinforcement of the combat brigade with hydrant planes and helicopters that work on steep terrain and difficult access.
#Alumine The fire in the so-called Lot 39 of Quillen remains uncontrolled. 1 hydrant plane, 2 helicopters, bulldozers and front loaders plus 200 brigade members work together. Yesterday one of the loaders was burned by the fire that already affected 1,300 hectares. pic.twitter.com/TzYzuxnVeL
– Edgardo Pino (@chechealumine) December 22, 2021
In its daily report, the ministry highlighted on December 24 the difficulties due to “the wide distances between the work points, the accumulated combustible material of vegetation, the prevailing drought, the meteorological conditions with high temperatures, the winds from different sectors and varied intensity “.
The ministry ordered the formation of “a crisis committee to coordinate support for the provinces affected by forest fires,” he announced on Twitter.
The ministry has not reported a balance of the affected hectares, but the daily part of the Fire Management plan revealed that there are at least two active sources in Neuquén, one in Río Negro and another two in the province of Chubut.
The Air Force collaborated with a Hercules plane to transfer brigade members and equipment to the affected areas, as well as support planes and helicopters.
In the south of Bariloche, 1,500 kilometers southwest of Buenos Aires, brigade members were fighting other fires this Friday in wooded areas of Villegas and El Manso, although smaller than that of Aluminé.
The meteorological service predicted that adverse conditions of high temperatures and changing winds will continue for the next few days with no rain expected.
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