They control the fire in Samaipata, but they are concerned about the fires in the Noel Kempff and Otuquis protected areas

The department of Santa Cruz registers this Monday seven active wildfires that affect five municipalities, according to information disclosed by the Forest Fire Early Warning System (Satif) and the Fire Department of the Directorate of Natural Resources (Direna), dependent on the Government.

Yovenka Rosado, head of Direna, indicated that the active fires are in Lagunillas, San Ignacio de Velasco, Cabezas, Samaipata and Puerto Suárez. The most worrisome are the fires that are registered in the Otuquis National Park and Noel Kempff Mercado National Park, the latter with a point of difficult access that is not being attended to due to failed attempts to enter by land and remains under observation.

“We are waiting for the positive response of the vice minister (of Civil Defense, Juan Carlos Calvimontes), so that he can help with helicopter in the Noel Kempff Mercado park, since the fire is located in a swampy area, which could not be reached by land or by boat,” Rosado said.

He also assured that the fire that had started on Friday in Samaipata and that was reactivated on Sunday, very close to the archaeological ruins, has already been controlled; however, firefighters are still on the scene carrying out the settlement tasks and later they will start monitoring to prevent the fire from resuming.

Officials, firefighters, community members and volunteers from Samaipata and other municipalities of Santa Cruz participated in the fight against the flames that threatened to damage the viewpoints and also affect the immense carved stone, considered a World Heritage Site by Unesco.

According to data provided by the local authorities of Samaipata, it is estimated that they are around dand 300 hectares affected for the fire.