The provinces of Catamarca, Entre Ríos and Neuquén present this Wednesday sources of active forest firesreported the National Fire Management Service (SNMF), which depends on the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development.
The fire reaches the towns of Gualeguaychú in Entre Ríos, Aluminé (Lanín National Park) in Neuquén and Capayán in Catamarca.
Meanwhile, the flames were contained in Ituzaingó, Concepción, San Miguel and Santo Tomé in Corrientes; Gualeguay and Diamante in Entre Ríos; Tehuelches in Chubut; the areas of Circunvalación and Lago Escondido in Bariloche in Río Negro; and Picunches and Aluminé (Quillén La Costa) in Neuquén.
In the province of Corrientes, to combat the flames, two SNMF hydrant planes operated and in the Iberá National Park a helicopter from the Ministry of Defense, while combatants from the NEA National Brigade provided support.
In addition, in Entre Ríos a helicopter belonging to the SNMF operated and technical support is provided with weather forecasting for planning, while in the Lanín National Park, in Neuquén, a helicopter and a hydrant plane from the SNMF operated.
Finally, Fire sources were controlled in Mburucuyá in Corrientes, Gualeguay (El Dorado) in Entre Ríos, Cushamen in Chubut, Tolhuin in Tierra del Fuego, another sector of Bariloche and Berazategui and Zárate in Buenos Aires; and extinct in Rosario, Santa Fe.
2,400 hectares have been burned in 14 forest fires since January in the Chubut mountain range
The Chubut forest secretary, Rodrigo Roveta, confirmed that “from January to mid-March of this year there were 14 fires” in the mountains, affecting an area of approximately 2,400 hectares that were consumed by the flames.
The official, in dialogue with Télam, explained that “in reality it is not very far from the annual average”, although he clarified that “what is striking is that 50% of the outbreaks were intentional.”
Roveta distinguished the fires that are produced by natural causes “such as a lightning strike, for example” with those that have to do with the presence of man and in the last case he distinguished “the circumstances of the origin”.
“It happens that one thing is a fire because someone caused a controlled burning of dry grass and it got out of hand, or a poorly put out stove, with the fact that someone caused the fire to cause damage” either due to neighborhood fights, arsonist tendencies or even political issues.
Roveta spoke with Télam after the recent meeting he had with the governor of Chubut, Mariano Arcioni, who “summoned me to make an evaluation of what was the season where there was a large deployment of brigade members,” explained the Chubut secretary of forests.
The department under his charge is engaged in a “restoration program” to plant seedlings of native species in the affected areas.
“The first thing that is being done is to place nets to collect seeds, produce the seedlings and then plant them, which is not an easy job and takes years,” he described.
