Fires in Chubut: the fire has already reached homes and concerns are growing

A deep concern invaded the province of Chubut for five sources of fire large dimensions in the Cordillera which have been activated again in the areas of Lago Puelo, on the outskirts of Cholila and in the rural area of ​​El Maitén, near El Bolsón. As reported by community sources and civil protection, to date there are seven wounded, one seriously admitted to Bariloche and 200 evacuees.

Governor Mariano Arcioni asked the Ministry of National Security for its collaboration in bringing the fire under control, as the heat and strong winds made it reaches the homes of the inhabitants.

The mayor of Lago Puelo, Augusto Sánchez, said on Facebook that “it is a worst case scenario for an interface fire” and that “the conditions are right to do it. a catastrophic fire ”.

“It is a fire that occurs inside the forest and there are extreme conditions for it to spread, we have the capacity of our firefighters exceeded although we hope it will rain in three or four hours and that will suffocate the fire, “he added the steward.

In addition, he indicated that “they are trying to contain the most solid places and to protect the installations”. The most affected are the areas of El Radar Alto and Alto Golondrina, “but the worst scenario is in The hole surrounded by flames ”, sumo.

At the request of the province of Chubut, the portfolio leading Sabina Frederick made available a helicopter from the Argentine Naval Prefecture to work on site and add it to the provincial and national media which are already operational.

The Under-Secretariat for Risk Management and Civil Protection of the Ministry organized, with the Single Coordination of Volunteer Firefighters Operations (CUO), the activation of red alert and deployment of regional personnel to fight the fire.

At around 4:00 p.m., an interface fire broke out in the area known as Las Golondrinas, in Lago Puelo, which got out of hand in a short time. The flames destroyed several houses and farms in production, local media reported.

Almost at the same time he started another fire in Cerro Radal which got out of control in a few minutes due to the action of the wind and high temperatures.

The interface fires that started in Las Golondrinas and Cerro Radal they developed at high speed and advanced towards El Hoyo.

The fire destroyed houses in the areas of Catarata Norte and Cerro Currumahuida, in the area above the pine forest. But the fire advanced towards the urban area, while the flames were a few meters from the houses on the outskirts of Cholila and El Maitén.

Sánchez also maintained in his networks that he had no doubts that the fire had started “By negligence or intentionality”. And he ruled out that this was due to natural causes, while stressing that there is no electricity “because the fire destroyed the lines”.

The circulation of vehicles on the national road 40 has been interrupted since Tuesday afternoon and only vehicles of the security forces, volunteer firefighters and brigadists who help fight against the advance of the fire are allowed to pass.

With information from Telam

THE NATION

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