BUENOS AIRES – Fires in heatwave- and drought-stricken Argentina have devoured some 6,000ha of forests in the northern Corrientes province in just days, officials reported yesterday.
Three fires continued to threaten while two others were burning but under control, according to the emergency command centre of Corrientes.
No injuries have been reported and the fires have not spread to populated areas, with rains expected today.
Since the start of the year, with the South American country facing heatwave after heatwave, fires have destroyed more than 100,000ha in Corrientes, according to the Inta agricultural technology institute.
Last month, Argentina issued health warnings in several provinces under the worst heatwave in decades, with temperatures close to 40°C.
The three months from November to the end of January were the warmest such period since 1961, according to the weather service.
While occasional heatwaves are normal, climate change has made them “more persistent and more intense”, even in Argentina’s mountainous Patagonia region, meteorologist Enzo Campetella said last month.
In 2022, forest fires in Corrientes burnt more than a million hectares, according to official figures.
The La Nina cycle of the El Nino weather phenomenon brought historically high temperatures last year, leading to crop losses estimated in the billions of dollars. – AFP, March 15, 2023
