Claudio Andrade
02/08/2021 12:13
Clarín.com
Society
Updated 02/08/2021 12:14
There are decisive hours in the fight against the fire in El Bolsón that began on January 24 and has consumed some 7,000 hectares of native forest.
About 300 brigadistas fight the flames in different points of the map of the sinister, but the majority are concentrated in the so-called sector 2, one of the slopes of Cerro Piltriquitrón, with the purpose of permanently removing the fire from the rural neighborhoods and the lands of the Mapuche Nahuelpan community.
The first information that emerged this Monday indicates that the more than 200 families that inhabit the sector and their houses were out of danger.
On Friday night the fire
reached 200 meters from some properties
built with wood.
Some with minor burns were recorded among the residents as they fought a brutal struggle to cool the surroundings of the sector.
In the initial days of the fire, at least two houses and two sheds were consumed, reported in the town.
Finally, the huge operation that also includes three planes, three helicopters, five fire trucks, 4x4 trucks, a communications truck, two road machines, among others, managed to push back the fire and open strips of land and water of between 6 and 20 meters that Protects the populated area from the flames.
The fire in El Bolsón consumed more than 7,000 hectares of native forest.
Photo: Press / vac.
One of the main concerns of the authorities of the Forest Fire Prevention and Fighting Service (Splif) is that the fire does not cross the summit of Cerro Piltriquitrón and descend towards the most populated rural neighborhoods that are located about seven kilometers from the urban area of The Baggins.
“It was very difficult, it was very hard, but thank God the most dangerous outbreaks have already been fought.
There is still a lot of fire alive, because it passed between lengas, radales, leñires, coihues.
In Cuesta del Ternero it is much quieter.
We are very grateful to all those who worked, "
Felisa Palma, a resident and a reference of the neighborhood efforts in Cuesta Ternero
, told
Clarín
.
"We had the fire 200 meters away. I know what it is to work in front and go through the fire. I witness how the brigade members worked and returned at seven in the afternoon tired, boys who leave everything to save our mountains, which are important, the trees that give us life, you don't have to be very studious to know that ”, he added.
This Monday, 75 brigade members who work divided in the upper and lower areas of the hill moved to the slope of the Piltriquitrón.
"Work will continue on the top of the Rinconada Nahuelpan school and church as there are still hot spots," said the second chief of the El Bolsón Forest Fire Prevention and Fight Service (Splif), Nicolás Dagostino to the
Río Negro
newspaper
.
View of the forest fire near El Bolsón.
Instagram photo @alejandrochaskielberg
The temperatures of the last days and the gusts of wind did not accompany these two weeks of operation in the mountain, during which days of up to 38 degrees were experienced, but on Sunday there was a notorious drop in the region which provided a respite to the brigadistas.
In some sectors of the Cordillera the thermometer went from 30 to 15 degrees in a matter of hours.
However, for this Monday and tomorrow between 30 and 35 degrees are expected, so the work has intensified.
The governor of Río Negro, Arabela Carreras, spent two days in El Bolsón, together with some of the members of her cabinet, to learn about the work in detail.
“The expectation is to contain the fire to avoid the advance to the populated areas.
Now, the task is to contain and control the outbreaks ”, said the president.
“We are very cautious.
We know that we will not be able to turn it off shortly
, but the expectation is to contain the line of advance on the western slope of the Piltriquitrón ”, he warned.
The fire started on January 24 when a group of six people left a stove in which they cooked food badly turned off.
Those responsible are being processed by the Río Negro Justice, which will carry out an investigation into the events in the coming months.
Those targeted are from the Alto Valle and intend to stay to live in the sector where occupied land predominates, judicial sources indicate.
EMJ
Look also
They evacuated Mapuche families in El Bolsón who are threatened by the fire
Fire in El Bolsón: a family closed their complex to tourism for the use of the brigadistas