BUENOS AIRES | The fire that has been raging since Sunday in Patagonia, a region in southern Argentina rarely affected by forest fires, continued on Wednesday and consumed 8,500 hectares of forest.
Declared in the vicinity of El Bolson, a town of 18,000 inhabitants in the province of Rio Negro located 1,700 kilometers south of Buenos Aires, the fire continued to progress south and “has already entered the province of Chubut on Wednesday. El Bolson’s director of civil protection, Leandro Romairone, told AFP.
Around 100 firefighters, two water bombers and two helicopters fight the flames while around 26 ground vehicles are working on building firewalls in difficult to access terrain.
The weather conditions, with very dry soil, strong winds and high temperatures due to the southern summer, complicate their task.
“Although today (Wednesday) the temperature has dropped a little, the wind in the area of the fire has increased”, specified Mr. Romairone who said to expect “rain in the next few hours, but no the scale needed to have a decisive impact on fire fighting ”.
No populated area was reached by the flames and “no evacuation is planned for the moment”, he added.
An investigation is underway to determine the still unknown origin of the fire which slightly injured four firefighters.