10 forest fires in 9 municipalities of the department of Huila remain active. According to the report yesterday Friday from the Risk Management office, the municipalities of: Algeciras (1), San Agustín (1), El Pital (1), Colombia (1) Pitalito (1), Palestine (1) Suaza (1 ), Agrado (1), Guadalupe (2), maintain active fires. At the national level, President Petro declared a public calamity and asked for international help.
Hernan Galindo
temadeldia@lanacion.com.co
The active forest fires in the department of Huila went from four to ten yesterday, according to the report from the Coordination – CDGRD of Huila. The report dated Friday, January 26, indicates that there are 9 municipalities with active forest fires and the municipality of Algeciras was the one with the greatest impact, which had 4 active conflagrations, of which 3 were controlled.
In Algeciras, the call was presented from sectors such as the San José, San Antonio, El Granizo sector and Manzanares village. Several units of the municipality’s firefighters were present there.
Mayor Alexander Martínez Ballesteros called a meeting of the risk management committee, all municipal authorities and related entities to learn first-hand about the emergencies presented and the risks due to the forest fires that have been hitting the agricultural pantry of Huila.
The balance at the end of the meeting called by the president, in which a new report was made on the emergency and it was verified that several hectares were consumed by the flames.
The largest was recorded on the border with Huila and Caquetá between the Balsillas and El Silencio villages. The out-of-control forest fire has consumed more than 20 hectares of vegetation cover in a nature reserve.
San Agustin
Another of the municipalities that reported a large fire was the municipality of San Agustín where, although the authorities and relief agencies of the Archaeological Capital have worked hard to mitigate the environmental impact as a result of the forest fires, these are still occurring. conflagrations in this town in southern Huila.
Yesterday, Friday, January 26, around 9 in the morning, the fire was reactivated in the area that joins the Llanada de Naranjos and Kennedy villages, which forced us to undertake arduous work to mitigate the impact of the fire that initially consumed 20 hectares of pastures. and stubble, according to the authorities’ report.
The San Agustín Firefighters, Isnos Firefighters and the San Agustín Civil Defense, led by Rodrigo Jurado, had to join forces, as well as the support of the Municipal Mayor’s Office through the Government Secretariat, headed by Yaneth Cecilia Meneses, and the Police National and the Carabineros Fort, to attend to this emergency.
Other municipalities with active forest fires are:
The Pital: Forest fire; type: underground; place: San Isidro and La Independencia villages; Affectation: currently 10 hectares of native vegetation and spring. Served by: Volunteer Fire Department, with support from the municipality’s civil defense. He also stays active.
Colombia: In the village of El Valle, Guadalupe, in the village of Los Pinos.
Pitalito: Conflagrations were attended to in the Las Colinas village – Guacacallo district. Affectation: 2 hectares of grass and stubble. Attended by: Volunteer Fire Department and in the Palmeras village of the Criollo district.
Palestine: Forest fire in attention and observation.
Suaza: A forest fire was reported in the San José village affecting 8 hectares of pastures and stubble.
Finally, during the night hours of yesterday Friday, active fires were reported in the municipalities of Guadalupe and El Agrado.
It was also reported that a total of 26 events were extinguished in 14 municipalities of the department, among which the following stand out:
Argentina; El Pital with an impact of 13 hectares in the Los Alpes village; Timaná where another of the largest fires occurred, affecting 30 hectares of pastures and stubble in the El Tobo village.
The report also includes the municipality of Isnos where forest fires occurred in the Belén and Brisas villages, as well as in Oporapa, in the El Carmen town center, the El Tablón and Santa Rosa villages.
In the municipality of Garzón, a fire was extinguished in the Guacanas village.
In the municipality of Guadalupe, in the Barquetas village, a fire that affected one hectare of grass and stubble was extinguished; He was attended to by the Volunteer Fire Department.
In Tarqui, the report was of three controlled forest fires affecting the El Triunfo trails, site of the Serranía de Minas Reserve. Affectation: 14 hectares of grass and stubble; La Mirada sidewalk. Affectation: 2 hectares and the Caimital path. Affectation: 2 hectares of pastures and stubble.
In the municipality of Saladoblanco, a forest fire was controlled in the La Primavera village, where the impact is pending to be known.
And finally, controlled fires were reported in the municipalities of Rivera, in the Tambillo village, affecting one hectare of coffee cultivation. In Acevedo, structural fire: San Francisco Javier hospital. The municipality’s Fire Department attended. There were no human damages, only material ones.
Environmentalists speak out
Camilo Cuenca and Luis Rodríguez from Tejidos Verdes in the municipality of Algeciras took the opportunity to call for awareness about forest fires in which the hand of man is sometimes present.
“We want to talk to you about the impacts that the forest fires are generating in Algeciras and in the world as a consequence of climate change. In Algeciras they reported to us a forest fire in the Casil area that borders the El Puente village where a person caused the fire as a practice of the farmers to clean the pastures,” they said through their social networks.
“The call we want to make is that we avoid these traditional practices, which generate panic and harm ecosystems,” they recalled.
The commander of the Pitalito Fire Department, Gilberto Rojas of the Benemérito Volunteer Fire Department of Pitalito, also sent a call: “make an urgent call to the entire community in the midst of the growing environmental crisis worldwide. An emergency is projected that could extend until March or April, and in Pitalito we have already registered approximately 9 forest fires of arson origin,” he stated.
And he added that “the main cause of these incidents are agricultural burning, so we strongly request that all residents refrain from carrying out this type of activities.” “Prevention is in our hands. Let us adopt responsible practices and protect our environment,” he concluded.
Forest fires in Colombia
Forest fires linked to the El Niño phenomenon have consumed 17,192 hectares since November in Colombia, which is under alert due to several active outbreaks, authorities reported yesterday Friday.
Since Monday, Colombia has been fighting several conflagrations that affect forests, mountainous ecosystems where water is born, and the hills surrounding Bogotá, where authorities suggest avoiding going outside due to the poor air quality.
Emergency authorities attribute more than 340 fires to droughts as a result of rising temperatures, according to figures released by the state National Unit for Disaster Risk Management (UNGRD).
Yesterday, Friday, the UNGRD counted 34 active fires throughout the country.
President Gustavo Petro declared a “natural disaster” on Wednesday and allocated economic resources to address the emergency.
The president asked the member countries of the United Nations for help to put out the flames. Although the United States, Peru, Chile and Canada responded to that call, reinforcements from those nations have not yet arrived in Colombia.
In the country’s capital, one of the outbreaks threatens to reach a residential area. The other is “95%” controlled, according to the mayor, Carlos Fernando Galán.
The president anticipated that he will permanently evaluate the fires in case they reach the point of forcing him to make decisions restricting the mobility of citizens.
The El Dorado international airport in Bogotá normalized its operations until yesterday after restrictions that affected 138 flights.
On the other hand, according to Ideam, this month could be considered the hottest January in 30 years, according to Ghisliane Echeverry, director of the Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies (Ideam).
The official assures that February could have even higher temperatures and only in March would rain help reduce the consequences of extreme heat.
Finally, authorities are investigating whether arsonists are causing some of the emergencies. The Police have captured 26 people for crimes related to the forest fires.