Forest fires engulf Santa Cruz, Bolivia – 10/27/2023 – Environment

Fire surrounds Santa Cruz. Wildfires, worsened by drought, emptied schools and brought masks back. The smoke plunged Bolivia’s most populous and richest city into ashes.

With a length of 325.6 km^two and 1.9 million inhabitants, Santa Cruz appears disfigured by heat, flames and smoke.

“It’s sad because now [a cidade] It’s getting dark from the smoke. You can’t see beyond a block,” says Luis Surubi, a 40-year-old security guard.

Hundreds of firefighters, with the help of helicopters, are trying to quell the fire that is devouring the greenery that surrounds the country’s economic capital.

This year “the burning [de floresta] it is happening indiscriminately”, points out Mauricio Montero, a 57-year-old retiree. We are “without trees and without rain”, he laments.

Despite being prohibited by law, burning forests and pastures for agricultural purposes is a common practice in Bolivia at this time of year. Farmers prepare the land for sowing in this way.

The intense drought, which punishes 7 of the 9 Bolivian departments (states) — some of them in a state of emergency — has worsened the situation.

“This week, we had high temperatures. The maximum reached was 40.2°C in Santa Cruz”, points out meteorologist Cristina Chirinos.

According to the expert, they were the hottest days of this century, surpassing the 2004 record of 38°C.

No classes

This week, as a result of pollution caused by smoke, the government suspended educational activities in several cities in Bolivia, and the measure may be extended in the coming days.

In total, there are 3,650 educational units affected or that have suspended classes due to pollution, said Education Minister Edgar Pary at a press conference. The number represents 15% of schools across the country, and most of these affected units are in Santa Cruz.

We had to cancel classes “to preserve the health of the students” and ours “as authorities”, said Danny Ardaya, director of the Lucas Casaert educational unit.

On the streets, movement has been reduced, and pandemic-era masks are back.

“Children cannot do physical activities (…) because there is nothing but smoke. The elderly who went out for walks, those who have illnesses, can no longer do so. Even pets are being harmed by the smoke “, says Luis Surubi.

Shoot the clouds

According to the Deputy Minister of Civil Defense, Juan Carlos Calvimontes, just over a thousand firefighters are fighting the fire in various parts of the country.

Four Armed Forces helicopters, with the “bambi bucket” system (which helps bring water to areas with flames), support the brigade members’ work in Santa Cruz and north of La Paz.

In Cochabamba, one of the departments most affected by the drought, the military even enabled a C-130 Hercules plane to fire a silver iodide compound, with the aim of stimulating rain.

“Cloud stimulation was successfully carried out with the launch of silver iodide cartridges,” said President Luis Arce.

This year alone, 2,012,252 hectares have already been burned in Bolivia, 23% in forests and the rest in pastures and savannas. This number, according to authorities, is below past records.

The fire reached natural reserves, such as Madidi in La Paz, covering almost 19 thousand km^twoand that of Amboró, in Santa Cruz, of 6,360 km^two.