the combo that unleashed the fire in the center of Bariloche

A day after the forest fire that caused panic in the center of the city of Bariloche, the Río Negro Department of Justice addressed the possible cause of the fire and filed charges against one person “Unlawful fire”. The defendant is a maintenance worker at the San Carlos Sanatorium, next to which the flames broke out and then spread throughout the surrounding area, forcing the deployment of dozens of firefighters and brigade members.

According to the charges formulated this Saturday by the Rio Negro Public Prosecutor’s Office (MPF), the defendant manipulated on Friday between 1 and 1:30 p.m a mill on an iron structure, just a few meters from dry grass on the slope of Cerro Runge, opposite the parking lot of the said health center.

The resulting sparks set the grassland on fire and caused a magmatic focus to spread rapidly down the slope, driven by the direction and speed of the wind, which, in the opinion of the prosecutor in the case, Facundo D’Apice, “endangered nearby buildings, sanatorium patients and passersby who circulated in the area”.

For the MPF “the worker acted negligentlyby operating the tool in a location that is neither approved nor safe, and thereby neglecting the duty of care and prevention regulations in place in connection with the declared provincial fire emergency.”

According to the report, police officers working at the scene confiscated the tools used, an extension cord and metal debris near the start of the fire before investigators met with the sanatorium management.

“The likely cause is a thermal source of glowing metal shavings approximate temperature of 1500 degrees“generated by abrasive friction during the manual use of a grinding-like cutting tool,” the prosecutor explained.

Civil defense personnel also reported that the mill had been removed from the spot where it was initially seen, while the MPF obtained images from surveillance cameras of nearby houses that show the fire breaking out at 1:27 p.m., when there was only one person at the spot.

“That wasn’t an accidentit was negligence that could have been avoided. Anyone who uses a grinder knows the risks and the need to work in a safe environment with protective elements. “Yesterday, when the state of emergency of dry grass, wind and fire prevailed, the outcome was foreseeable,” said the justice official, who requested a 20-day deadline four months to complete the investigation through reports.

The accused employee has been in preventive detention in a police unit since yesterday and today he regained his freedom.

His defense, in turn, explained that this was not consistent with the prosecution’s hypothesis, considering that the results of the tests carried out so far were preliminary and that the reports needed to be deepened and expanded.

Dozens of firefighters and brigade members, fire engines and tank trucks, as well as other emergency vehicles from various organizations in Bariloche had to intervene this Friday to extinguish a large forest fire very close to the San Carlos sanatorium, which, driven by the wind, was moving at high speed, consuming pine and cypress trees, towards the Belgrano district, in the central part of the city.

The fire broke out on the northern slope of Cerro Runge, which borders the rear of the sanatorium, located at kilometer 1 of Avenida Bustillo, at the western entrance to central Bariloche.

After three hours of hard work, firefighters and brigade members managed to bring the rear and front fires under control. This made it possible to use it Fire hydrant planes to use its discharges to “cool” the sectors with the greatest fire activity and to allow firefighters and brigade members to advance by land.

The fire caused panic in the clinic, which at the start of the emergency prepared to evacuate patients and medical and technical staff while they could see the fire through the windows Ten meter high torches devouring trees and the dense vegetation.

The wind carried the flames away from the sanatorium, but quickly brought them closer to the homes and buildings in the area. Faced with this situation, many residents decided to evacuate themselves – some running with suitcases – and distance themselves from the thick smoke and falling ash that made the surrounding streets unbearable.

Meanwhile, other residents in the neighborhood made chains with water buckets to throw the water onto the fire or threw it directly from their balconies, while others used garden hoses to collaborate.

In addition to volunteer firefighters from all the city’s barracks, crews from the Provincial Forest Fire Fighting Service (Splif), Río Negro police personnel who cut off traffic in the area, national parks and the municipal civil protection department responded.

Flames and smoke could be seen for mileswhich, along with the sound of sirens from the various cell phones involved in the operation, caused a commotion throughout the city.

The municipality and emergency teams had to ask residents not to approach the site with cars as traffic through Bustillo was chaotic until they decided to cut it off. The traffic jam hampered the fire department’s operations, even on Avenida de los Pioneros, an alternative road through which traffic was rerouted.

Around 5:00 p.m. The fire was already “under control”, so it stopped spreading and the task was focused on cooling the most busy points and protecting houses.

Gonzalo Irasoque, in charge of the operation at Splif, stated that there were no casualties, except for a firefighter who was decompensated by smoke inhalation and was out of danger after receiving assistance.

In March 2015, a very similar fire broke out a little further from the sanatorium and spread through the forest and houses until it entered the Belgrano district and burned down some houses.