Santa Cruz goes up in the alarm scale for forest fires: the orange alert was activated | Santa Cruz sube en la escala de alarma por incendios forestales: se activó la alerta naranja

El Deber:

Foto: Fuad Landívar
Foto: Fuad Landívar

Currently, 6 fires are reported distributed in the municipalities of: San José, San Antonio de Lomerío, Warnes and the metropolitan area

The winds above 60 kilometers per hour that have been recorded since Thursday began to wreak havoc when the situation in August worsened, the month in which the alarms for forest fires traditionally begin to go off. Any spark spreads like wildfire with the help of strong winds and this Friday Santa Cruz begins the weekend with several novelties: the rise in the alarm scale, with the declaration of an orange alert and two worrying fires: the one in the vicinity of Viru Viru, and the one that threatens to enter the Santa Cruz la Vieja Park. 

Pablo Sauto, Secretary of Sustainable Development and Environment of the Government, launched this Friday the orange alert for forest fires, in response to the increase in emergencies in the department.

Currently six fires are reported distributed in the municipalities of: San José, San Antonio de Lomerío, Warnes and the metropolitan area.

This declaration allows the affected municipalities to activate communication campaigns to the population likely to be affected by potential risks, as well as to put into effect the protocols to be followed in the event of disaster situations.

Sauto reported that to date 102 emergencies have been registered, of which 83 are interface fires in the metropolitan area and 18 are forest fires that have occurred in areas of denser vegetation that present different ecosystems, being the provinces of Ángel Sandoval, Germán Busch, Chiquitos, Ñuflo de Chávez, Cordillera, Guarayos, Velasco and Andrés Ibáñez, which have the highest incidence of forest emergencies.

“In accordance with Law No. 602 on Risk Management and due to the increase in heat sources, and climatic conditions conducive to the spread of fires, we declare the orange alert, in this way we suggest that municipal governments activate the mechanisms and protocols to follow in case of emergencies and disasters in their municipalities, in addition to the COEM municipal emergency committees and provide logistics for the attention of forest fires”, Sauto affirmed.


BomberosPhoto: Fuad Landívar

Attention in the vicinity of Viru Viru airport

Around noon, a grassland fire was reported a few meters from the runway of the Viru Viru airport, in the capital of Santa Cruz. Visibility is almost nil in the place.

Given the situation, the Departmental Emergency Center was present at the scene, the Director of Risk Management, Israel Gareca, currently commands the operation with firefighters from the Directorate of Natural Resources (Direna), as well as with rescuers from the Governorate. Hours later, the Quebracho Volunteer Firefighters, the Guardian Volunteer Firefighters and the Jenecherú Volunteer Firefighters joined.

Sauto, who also went to the place, said that the fire is advancing very quickly because there is too much wind, which is why a large number of firefighters and the Government’s system have been mobilized. 

We have 2 fire fronts and there are some houses nearby. We have two rapid attack units working. We are currently evaluating the relevance of making a direct attack or a firewall. 

BomberosA little bird is hydrated in the middle of a forest fire control operation in the vicinity of Viru Viru /Fuad Landívar

Fire in the provinces

Meanwhile, Yovenka Rosado, director of Natural Resources, explained that there are decentralized fire units in the five most vulnerable provinces: Ángel Sandoval, Germán Busch, Chiquitos, Ñuflo de Chávez and Velasco, giving immediate response to emergencies, in addition of being equipped.

As of today, the Forest Fire Early Warning System (Satif), detected 360 sources of heat for this Friday and reported on the six emergencies in the department, announcing the displacement of a second fire brigade to help liquidate the fire. fire in the municipality of San José de Chiquitos, while the baffled brigade in the Ñuflo de Chávez province continues to fight the fire in the municipality of San Antonio del Lomerío and this fight will be joined by a second brigade that left today for that municipality.

The Governorate announced that they will formally request the Ministry of Civil Defense to mobilize the Armed Forces to help combat, control and liquidate forest emergencies in the municipalities of San José and San Antonio de Lomerío.

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