Almost a week after the fire that caused the paralysis of an electrical transmission line and left 20 million people without electricity in the country, another burning of pastures stalks the Atucha de Zárate nuclear power plant this
Tuesday
.
The fire started at noon in front of the property where the plant is located and was alerted by the residents of the place who quickly -and given the recent precedent- alerted emergencies.
Minutes later, an operation of volunteer firefighters was deployed in the area, in which the Civil Defense of the Province of Buenos Aires also participated.
The Atucha I nuclear power plant in Zárate.
Photo REUTERS/Matias Baglietto
However, after a few hours from the start of the flames, residents of the surrounding area began to denounce on social networks that the fire was only trying to be put out by fire
trucks from six decades ago.
"These are all the crews that are intervening in the Atucha fire:
one with a fire engine from the 60s
," wrote a user on Twitter who portrayed the scene.
In the video you can see a large column of smoke that denotes the rapid spread of the fire and a helicopter flying over the place while a fire truck makes great efforts to control the fire.
It was not the only complaint: the president of the Green Party Silvia Vázquez also complained about the actions in the place.
“Nation only sent a fire hydrant plane and a helicopter despite the risks of tragedy.
And
the pilots fly blind through the smoke
.
Because they don't have compatible radio systems and they can't even communicate with each other.
They put everything at risk," he said about it.
And he added, against the Minister of the Environment Juan Cabandié, whom he held responsible for the events: "There is total lack of intelligence, the national minister says that the situation is under control but the danger continues and is much greater."
Massive power outage throughout the country due to a failure at the Atucha I Nuclear Power Plant. Photos Emmanuel Fernández
In contrast to the complaints, the Civil Defense teams of the province of Buenos Aires clarified that "
the plant is protected
."
"
There is no danger of spreading to the plant
. There is a lot of smoke in the area, which is why it is a situation that requires us to take care of it. The fire is active but the situation is under operational control, we hope to put it out in a few hours," he told Télam Fabián García, Provincial Director of Civil Defense.
In this regard, they detailed that four teams of volunteer firefighters, two police fire brigades, three police helicopters and a hydrant plane from the National Fire Management Service (SNMF) were working at the site.
Meanwhile, the director of local Civil Defense, Fabio Giovanettoni, told the newspaper La Opinión earlier that "the hydrant plane will be operating in the area near Atucha."
In addition, he confirmed that part of the air resources that are being used in Lima were what were affected by the fires in San Pedro.
How was the first warning about the fire at the plant that left almost half the country without electricity
The report was brief and concise, although it did not give the dimension of what it would cause.
It was from the First Police Station of Pilar, which notified the Departmental Security Station of that municipality and the AMBA Norte II Superintendence of the Buenos Aires Police.
The synthesis - in strict terminology of the force, to which
Clarín
agreed - warned: "Date mobile personnel Zone 05 is commissioned by 911 to Perón and 195th street due to fire of grasslands. We arrived to meet with Major Commander Lucero who stated that in Ten crews of Bb. Vv. [Volunteer Firefighters] are working in the place. At the moment, the reason for the fire source is unknown."
Strictly speaking, the fire had started in General Rodríguez pastures and an emergency call gave notice when it spread to open fields in the neighboring district of Pilar.
The police report escalated to the Buenos Aires Ministry of Security and made Sergio Berni activate and go to make his appearance.
It was later learned that this fire led to the preventive deactivation of activity at the Atucha I nuclear power plant, which caused the blackout that left almost half the country in the dark.
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