A new assessment of the forest fires that affect the south-central zone of the country was carried out by the Undersecretary of the Interior, Manuel Monsalve, after the meeting of the Disaster Risk Management Committee (COGRID). According to the government authority, there is a decrease in casualties in combat, since there are 19 fewer than yesterday.
During this day there are 289 active fires and 79 in combat, said Undersecretary Monsalve, along with stating that “there are still complex fires, both in the Maule Region, as well as in Ñuble, Biobío and the La Araucanía Region.”
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The Ministry of the Interior official highlighted the deployment of resources, noting that there are 141 aircraft in operation, “almost double the number of aircraft fighting fires than there were in 2017.”
He also reported that this day there will be a “climate window” which will help temperatures drop in some areas and thus facilitate the work to control the flames.
However, starting tomorrow, once again “high temperatures are expected in the central-southern zone of Chile and eventually around Wednesday or Thursday we will again face a high temperature system that could first affect the RM and then move to the regions of Maule, Biobío, Araucanía”.
For the coming days, he reported that there will be between 60 and 70 communes in “Red Button”, which means “that they will face conditions of high temperatures, low humidity and winds, therefore, high risk. That implies about two million and a half hectares in that condition”.
For his part, the Minister of Agriculture, Esteban Valenzuela, reported that it was possible to double the budget to face the emergency, destined for peasants to feed their animals, which will be delivered through INDAP. “We have managed to double the contribution of the Ministry of Agriculture in direct assistance in this first phase of the emergency in the agricultural sector, from $1,500 to $3,000 million, particularly for peasant family farming”
