As firefighters continue to fight fires in the isolated southern area of Patagonia, local officials announced Tuesday that since January, wildfires have burned up to 250,000 hectares of land in northeastern Argentina.
According to data from the Association of Rural Communities of Corrientes, the flames in the northeastern province of Corrientes had destroyed an area of farmland and pine woods the size of Vancouver Island.
A 30-year-old teacher died of the burns she sustained on February 4 while trying to stop the flames engulfing her father’s field in the village of Mariano I. Loza, the local mayor said at the weekend.
The area is parched by a drought and intense heat, with temperatures reaching 40 degrees Celsius in recent days.
Greenpeace however also pointed a finger at illegal logging.
Meanwhile, Greenpeace Argentina reports that Patagonia, a region known for its vast grasslands and rugged Andean peaks, is experiencing its worst wildfire season in thirty years.
Situated around 40 kilometers (25 miles) northeast of San Martin de los Andes, Lanin National Park is now the scene of the greatest fire.
An 80-year-old man died in early February from smoke inhalation in the tourist town of El Bolson, which is located in a valley with fruit orchards, further south, where a large fire was still spreading.
“We are exhausted,” Alejandro Namor, the city’s fire chief, told AFP on Tuesday.
More than 120 houses have been gutted by the fire over the past two weeks and a thousand families have been evacuated. Authorities suspect arson.
In an interview with AM 1350 radio, Namor said that residential areas were now out of danger but that extinguishing the flames in wooded areas could take up until “March or April.”
Argentina’s security and defense ministers Patricia Bullrich and Luis Petri announced the creation of a Federal Emergency Agency during a visit Tuesday to the area.
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