Chill blaze burns 1200 hectares of forest at Santiago
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4 February, Santiago According to the National Forest Corporation (Conaf), a fire in southern Chile’s Tierra del Fuego region destroyed 1,235 hectares of forest in the commune of Timaukel.
According to Xinhua news agency, Conaf’s interim regional director John Revello stated on Thursday that the fire began on January 25 on territory owned by a forestry firm and that 600 hectares had been destroyed as of Monday.
According to Revello, the rough terrain, vegetation, build-up of fallen trees and lumber, and weather conditions have made it impossible to manage the fire in the Magallanes region.
The afflicted area is home to a lenga forest, a species of beech tree native to Tierra del Fuego, according to Agriculture Minister Maria Emilia Undurraga.
“Because of the geographical circumstances and the forest, itself there are many old dead lenga trees, so it’s like having mounds of piled firewood, which makes fighting and containing the fire difficult”, Undurraga explained.
Conaf said that five planes carrying 15,000 litres of water had been fighting the fire since Wednesday.
