Extreme weather wreaks havoc on Argentine heritage… 600 hectares destroyed in a nature reserve
Firefighters in Argentina are battling a fire that has “spiraled out of control” in the Los Alerces National Park in Patagonia.
Approximately 600 hectares of the site listed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List have been destroyed so far, according to the official news agency (Telam).
In the middle of the southern hemisphere summer, temperatures have reached record levels exceeding 40 degrees Celsius these days in Argentine Patagonia, an area that is usually cold and stormy at the southernmost tip of the country.
Firefighters in the Chubut province are trying to prevent the flames from spreading to the nearby towns of Esquel and Trevelin, about 2000 kilometers southwest of the capital Buenos Aires.
Mario Cardenas, head of the firefighting, communications, and emergency department in the national park, declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2017, said, “The fire has spiraled out of control.”
The fire broke out on Thursday, January 25th, and has consumed more than 577 hectares of forests extending beyond the park’s perimeter, according to the same source.
Cardenas explained that the conditions are “unfavorable due to strong winds and high temperatures, making our work extremely difficult.”
The fire is raging in the Sengenilla River area near Rosales Bay, according to Telam.
The record temperatures in Argentine Patagonia, Chubut, and Rio Negro provinces have prompted a state of emergency due to the risk of fires until April.
Los Alerces National Park covers 188,379 hectares with a buffer zone of approximately 207,313 hectares. The successive glacial formations have created diverse natural landscapes in the region, including ice circles, clear water lakes, hanging valleys, and rocky mountains.
It is home to some of the last remaining spots of neighboring Patagonian forests, as well as many settled and endangered species of plants and animals, including the oldest group of Patagonian cypresses.
Los Alerces National Park is one of the top natural tourist destinations in Argentina.
This national park is located in the Andes Mountains in northern Patagonia, bordered by Chile to the west.
Established in 1937 to protect the Alerce forest, a native tree in South America that can live for over 3,600 years, the Alerce tree is considered the second oldest tree in the world after the Sequoia tree found in the United States.
Los Alerces National Park also features a similar appearance to Sequoias, being large and tall. The Alerce forest in this national park is the largest forest in Argentina and has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2017.
