Firefighters fight this Saturday Forest fire in the Los Alerces National Park, in the Patagonia Argentina, which has already devastated almost 600 hectares in the midst of high summer temperatures, reported the official Telam agency.
Brigade members and personnel of the province of Chubut They tried to prevent the flames from reaching the nearby towns of Esquel and Trevelinabout 2,000 km southwest of Buenos Aires.
“The fire is out of control”declared Mario Cardenashead of the Fire, Communications and Emergency department (ICE) of the park, declared a world heritage site UNESCO in 2017.
He said that he firewhich began on Thursday night, went from affecting about 65 hectares to coveringr 577 hectares of forestsalready leaving the park’s jurisdiction.
The conditions to control it “they are adverse because we continue having a lot of wind and high temperature, that makes our tasks quite difficult.”said Cárdenas.
Telam said that the fire, located in the area of the creek Sentinelat the height of the bay Rosales del Lago Futalaufquenconsumed native forest and burned species such as ñire, laura, cohiue cane, and lenga.
On his Instagram account, he Los Alerces National Park reported that on Friday night a drone flew over the area to evaluate the progress of the fire, and fire crews from Esquelof about 37,000 inhabitants, and Trevelinof about 8,000, “are present protecting the towns near the fire”.
He National Metereological Service (SMN) reported record temperatures of more than 40ºC these days in the Patagonia Argentina, which led to the provinces of Chubut and Black river to declare the igneous emergency due to the risk of vegetation fires until April.
According to the forecast of SMNthe heat will remain in the Patagonia during the coming week and will extend northwards, in the central and most populated provinces of Buenos Aires, Santa Fe, Córdoba and Entre Ríos, with temperatures that can climb up to 38°C.
