Colombian Firefighters and Soldiers Battle Blaze in Chingaza Park
Wildfire in Chingaza National Natural Park, Colombia. Jan. 14, 2025. X/ @JuanFraile
January 15, 2025 Hour: 9:30 am
This wildfire is occurring near one of the reservoirs that supplies water to Bogota.
On Wednesday, dozens of Colombian soldiers were deployed to assist firefighters in battling a wildfire that began in Chingaza National Natural Park. This fire is occurring near one of the reservoirs that supplies water to Bogota, which has been experiencing water rationing for the past nine months.
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The fire was detected Tuesday night near the Chingaza Lagoon, several kilometers southwest of the Chuza Reservoir, located in the department of Cundinamarca, Bogota Mayor Carlos Galan confirmed.
“With four emergency vehicles and 17 firefighters, we are supporting our brothers in Cundinamarca in responding to a forest fire in Chingaza. We hope to quickly control the flames and stop their spread,” stated Bogota’s Fire Department.
Since Tuesday night, 60 soldiers from Mechanized Cavalry Group No. 10 Tequendama and Disaster Prevention and Response Battalion No. 80 have been assisting in efforts to control and extinguish the wildfire.
Chingaza Park covers an area of 76,600 hectares, is located in the eastern Andes mountain range, and spans seven municipalities in the Cundinamarca department and four in the Meta department. The park’s ecosystems are home to the spectacled bear, also known as the Andean bear.
Since April 2024, Colombia’s capital, a city of nearly eight million residents, has faced an unusual water rationing due to the low levels of reservoirs supplying the aqueduct system, caused by a prolonged lack of rainfall in recent months.
The Cundinamarca’s Regional Autonomous Corporation (CAR) informed that the levels of Bogota’s reservoirs continue to decline, with the Chingaza System at 46% capacity.
Meanwhile, Bogota’s City Hall has warned that if the reservoirs reach a critical level (36%), stricter rationing measures will need to be implemented in the Colombian capital.
teleSUR/ JF Source: EFE