SAN CARLOS DE BARILOCHE.- A few days after reopening, the Río Azul – Lago Escondido (Anprale) Nature Reserve in El Bolsón suffered again a firealthough this time it started due to a burst pipe in Motoco, one of the mountain huts in the area. The room was completely destroyed by flames and five people had to be evacuated.
As reported by the Forest Fire Prevention and Fighting Service (Splif) of El Bolsón, the person in charge of the shelter reported the fire yesterday evening: “Then the transport of Splif personnel began, together with volunteer firefighters from Lago Puelo and El Bolsón, the mountain patrol and the municipal civil defense.”
While Splif personnel are still working to extinguish the area around the shelter, Civil Defense and firefighters have evacuated the site and remain responsible for deployment in sectors near the walkway that allows access to the shelter. They are trying to prevent the increase in tourists. This is what the brigade members pointed outThe fire “is showing little activity outside of the refuge area.” Since there is no wind, the use of aircraft from the National Fire Management Service (SNMF) is expected.
The Motoco Valley Circuit is flanked by the Lindo and Morrudo hills. The path to the Motoco refuge begins at the footbridge above the Azul River in Lake Puelo, in the southern part of Anprale. The reopening of this protected area took place at the end of November last year, after the completion of the tasks to be carried out the devastating forest fire that devastated around 4,000 hectares last summer.
Anprale’s partial reopening process included technical surveys, geo-environmental risk analyses, inspections of existing infrastructure, brigade work, Conicet assessment (through the “Anprale Final Report – Initial Diagnosis and Post-Fire Policies”) and meetings with local residents to establish criteria for public use and conservation.
Amid a severe emergency, the fire broke out in the Motoco shelter generated alert in the region. In addition to the brigade members who have been deployed there since yesterday evening, many more have had to join in recent days to work on the fire that broke out a week ago in the Río Turbio area of Chubut. A team from Splif El Bolsón was transported by helicopter from Puelo to sector R20 of the fire last Friday.
A fire broke out in the Loma de la Chancha area of El Turbio Provincial Reserve on Monday, December 1, following a lightning strike during a thunderstorm. The fire is progressing in an area that is difficult to access: it is “a very steep terrain in which large amounts of fuel from the 2015 fire remain, which makes work on site much more difficult,” as the Lago Puelo forest fire department explained.
An increase in temperature was recorded there last weekend. However, a thermal inversion occurred yesterday morning, resulting in a small spread of smoke. This made fighting the fire impossible due to poor visibility. Yesterday afternoon there was a reactivation of fire sources and the fire continued to progress due to increasing wind speed.
For today, the forecast indicates the likelihood of isolated storms in El Turbio, a condition that increases the threat to the safety of brigade members and the operation of air resources. “There is even a possibility that new fire outbreaks may occur due to lightning strikes,” warned the Provincial Fire Management Service (SPMF), which operates under the Chubut Forest Secretariat and is responsible for combat operations.
The tasks are complicated not only by the fire’s remoteness and topography, but also by the large amount of heavy plant fuel that is burned. The affected area of native forest has not yet been specified.
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