Wildfires Put Bolivian Municipalities in a 'Disaster Situation'

On Wednesday, the La Paz Governorate declared a "disaster situation" in five municipalities of Los Yungas due to the fires that have devastated over 70 hectares and affected some 1,290 families.

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The Government sent a delegation and material to help put out the fire, especially in the most affected towns such as La Asunta. The drought registered in this area in recent days has caused a water deficit that has facilitated the advance of the fires.

For this reason, the Vice Ministry of Civil Defense sent a "military firefighter" to La Asunta so that he can mitigate the fire by throwing water from the sky.

On Monday, this task generated a smoke that reached the city of La Paz and polluted the air with "particulate matter", for which the Laboratory of Physics of the Atmosphere of the San Andres Universidad recommended using a mask to avoid the effects from the smoke

The tweet, "A multidisciplinary team from the Mayor's Office of La Paz, made up of volunteer firefighters, doctors and psychologists, arrived on Thursday in the community of Monte Verde in Zongo to attend to the inhabitants and assist in the firefighting tasks."

From Tuesday to Wednesday, however, the air quality in La Paz began to improve as the level of particulate matter decreased from 90.4 ug/m3 to 50.4 ug/m3.

Lenny Carvajal, deputy mayor of the Zongo Municipality, stated that at least six communities are in a state of emergency as they have been severely affected by the fire, which has devastated coffee and citrus plantations.

Forest and pasture fires are also stalking four forest reserves that are part of Chiquitania and the Amazon. On Wednesday, at least 16 fires in Santa Cruz and 4 in Beni increased their intensity due to strong winds of over 90 kilometers per hour, which forced the National Meteorology and Hydrology Service (SENAMHI) to declare an orange alert.