Firefighters are desperately battling wildfires in Córdoba, where more than 7,000 hectares have already been destroyed.
Planes, helicopters and more than 200 firefighters have been deployed to quench the blaze, which started in the Calamuchita Valley, local authorities said Tuesday.
“There are 210 firefighters, three planes and two helicopters fighting the flames,” reported the Córdoba Province government in a statement.
The province’s climate risk and catastrophe management team explained “there were winds of up to 60 kilometres an hour in the early hours, which made the situation worse.”
The fire started on Monday in a range known as El Durazno, in the Calamuchita Valley, some 120 kilometres from the provincial capital.
Martín Degano, the director of the provincial fire management service, said that as of Monday, “approximately 7,000 hectares” had been affected.
“The fire went on all night and it’s still active," he said Tuesday.
The provincial government said local residents had been evacuated, with no injuries reported.
Roberto Schreiner, a spokesman for Córdoba’s Climate Risk Management Secretariat, informed the press that “weather conditions for Tuesday are not favourable” and that the situation could worsen.
“We have a low percentage of humidity, we have southern winds and the temperature is dropping. That is the only thing that is helping us mitigate it a bit, for the temperature to drop, but we need water, and we won’t get it in the next few days,” he said.
In September 2013, another fire had affected the same area of Córdoba, ripping through some 25,000 hectares. More than 450 people were evacuated.
– TIMES/AFP
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