BUENOS AIRES, Jan 9 (NNN-EFE) — A massive, intentionally set wildfire, burning out of control in the mountainous Patagonian province of Chubut, Argentina, engulfed the areas around El Hoyo and Epuyén, leading to the complete closure of the crucial National Route 40.
“The situation is dramatic,” said Ariel Ruiz, the fire operations chief for the neighboring Rio Negro province, in a statement to Argentinian media. Citing a year of extreme drought, he outlined the grim priorities: “What we are trying to do is safeguard people’s lives and then their homes. There aren’t enough resources. We prioritize lives, property, and then the forest.”
Authorities have executed preventive evacuations for eight families in the Coihue area near Epuyén due to the imminent threat. A significant focus of the ground and aerial effort is the protection of School 81 in El Pedregoso, which lies directly in the path of the advancing firefront.
A contingent of over 300 personnel—including provincial and national brigades, volunteer firefighters, Civil Defense, and security forces—is combating the inferno. They were supported throughout the day by a fleet of six aircraft, including a helicopter and five water-dropping planes.
A large-capacity Boeing 737 FireLiner, capable of releasing 15,000 liters of water or retardant in a single pass, was also deployed.
Local prosecutor Carlos Diaz Mayer has confirmed the fire was deliberately set using accelerants, and an investigation is underway.
The blaze, which began last Monday in the Puerto Patriada region, has rapidly consumed more than 3,500 hectares of native forest and grassland. — NNN-EFE