July 28, 2022, 8:51 AM
July 28, 2022, 8:51 AM
The Government of Santa Cruz activated the orange alert due to the high risk of forest fires in the department. At this time there are five active fires and the Deputy Minister of Civil Defense, Juan Carlos Calvimontes, moved to the municipality of San Matías, one of the areas affected by the fire.
The Secretary of Sustainable Development and Environment of the Government, Jhonny Rojas, recalled that the orange alert is activated by weather conditions that favor the spread of these disasters, in addition to the increase in forest fires.
With this alert, Rojas said, it is suggested to the municipal governments that they start the communication and diffusion mechanisms to the inhabitants in the risk zones and Activate protocols in the event of disaster or emergency situations.
Regarding fire emergencies, Rojas reported that to date 191 have been attended to, of which 150 are fires considered interface in the metropolitan area and 41 are forest fires that have occurred in rural areas, where the vegetation is denser and presents different ecosystems.
For her part, the head of the Forest Firefighters Unit, Yovenka Rosado, reported that five active fires were maintained in the department of Santa Cruz (two in Concepción, one in San Matías, another in El Carmen Rivero Tórrez and one in San Ignacio de Velasco).
“All our decentralized brigades have been displaced to the emergencies that are being registered in the department and at the request of the specialized personnel in the place, we have sent more brigades of forest firefighter instructors to help in the combat tasks of these emergencies”, explained the person in charge.
The authorities They have sent emergency teams to the fire that is registered in the municipality of San Matías, Ángel Sandoval province, near the community of San Fernando, where in the first instance the decentralized brigades of the Government were present and support was requested. In the place they worked in a coordinated manner with park rangers, decentralized firefighters, soldiers from the Florida regiment and members of the San Fernando communal brigade, among other units.
Deputy Minister Calvimontes, who has been in the San Fernando community since yesterday, reported in a first report that the fire had affected more than 2,000 hectares of grassland, but it did not reach the wooded area, which is the area that must be protected from the fire.
The authority also pointed out that according to the report of the Forest and Land Supervision and Control Authority (ABT) the fire in the area was caused.
“Two weeks ago, on a flyover we did over the place, we identified properties where they were burning despite the fact that the period had ended”, lamented the authority.
Yesterday they controlled a focus near San Fernando, but another one close to the Turbaí ranch needs to be extinguished.
This Thursday, they will resume the tasks early to put out the flames and prevent it from spreading to other areas.
