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Bolivia Requests International Aid to Fight Forest Fires

The Bolivian government admitted today that they had become overwhelmed in their attempts to fight forest fires raging in Pando, Beni, Santi Cruz, Cochabamba, and Tarija departments. Santa Cruz has declared a departmental state of disaster and smoke from the fires disrupted air traffic at 23 airports around the country. 30 days after the first fires broke out the federal executive branch under the council of Weimar Becerra, forestry assistant to the Environment Vice-Minister, has announced that the fires have exceeded the Bolivian government´s ability to control them.

Mr. Becerra commented on the fires saying, “For me it´s a total disaster, an environmental disaster. We have six forest fires exceeding 50 meters in height which are growing and we don´t have the national resources to extinguish them.” The fires have been destroying nearly everything in their path and the ash fall has been contaminating rivers and killing fish.

The Bolivian government has requested water-carrying planes from Brazil and has enlisted the aid of Argentina in fighting the southern fires. The chief of the Firefighters´ Union of La Paz, Gustavo Daza, expressed concern over the limited numbers of firefighters available to combat the fires and noted that national park officials possess only the most basic firefighting equipment. Pando and Beni departments suffer from particularly dramatic firefighter shortages.

Héctor Cabrera, an official with the Environmental Monitory Unit of the National Protected Areas Service (Sernap), estimated that 4.3% of the country´s natural area has already been affected by wildfires this year.

For more in Spanish see:

http://www.laprensa.com.bo/noticias/19-8-2010/noticias/19-08-2010_2662.php

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