Colombia: Great Fire Consumes More Than 250 Hectares of Forest

Fires in Colombia, Aug 2024 Photo: @LaOtraVerdadCol

August 19, 2024 Hour: 7:04 pm

Firefighters, a group of soldiers and the community are fighting a fire that has consumed more than 250 hectares of forest in the Colombian town of Alpujarra, department of Tolima, in central Colombia, military sources reported on Monday.

Commander Battalion of Disaster Prevention and Care No., Lieutenant Colonel César Mancera, said that the locals, supported by rescue soldiers, fight the flames with tools and back bombs.

Similarly, the fire is also being fought with the use of drones and some downloads have been made with the system ‘Bambi Bucket’.

According to the National Unit for Disaster Risk Management (UNGRD), between last November and March this year, 1,620 events associated with the El Niño phenomenon were recorded in Colombia, of which 1,021 were forest fires.

#ProtegemosLaVida | Soldados de la Brigada @Ingenieros_EJC de Atención y Prevención de Desastres, en coordinación con entidades del Sistema Nacional del Riesgo de Desastres, realizan intervención del incendio forestal que se presenta en Alpujarra, #Tolima, con técnicas de… pic.twitter.com/HIFMoR1RXe
— Ejército Nacional de Colombia (@COL_EJERCITO) August 19, 2024

El Niño is a change in atmospheric dynamics caused by the rise in temperature of the Pacific Ocean. Because of its location, Colombia has some areas with rains and others with droughts.

Last July, the Colombian government assured that the preparation to face La Niña requires investments of 7 billion Colombian pesos (about 1,734 million dollars) to address more than 2,600 events associated with the weather phenomenon, most of which will be floods, landslides, gales and torrential rains.