Alert for Forest Fires in Central Chile
Alert for Forest Fires in Central Chile
05 February 2012
published by www.plenglish.com
Chile — Santiago de Chile — The Chilean regions of Valparaíso and O”Higgins in central Chile remain in a state of yellow alert as forest fires spread.
In some communities, such as Viña del Mar, red alert has been decreed due to the advance of the flames that have consumed thousands of acres and destroyed homes in rural areas.
In the region of Higgins specifically, five outbreaks of fires raged in the last 48 hours with 2,400 hectares of vegetation destroyed, and they are dangerously close to population sectors.
Chile’s National Forest Corporation (Conaf) reported that a revived fire in the National Park Torres del Paine in the Chilean Patagonia, which has devastated about 20,000 hectares so far, is under control.
The drought that has punished the Chilean territory in the last three years and the heat wave currently being registered in different parts of Chile favorsa situation of extreme vulnerability to fires.