(Buenos Aires) Major grassland and pasture fires have been raging for several days in the Parana delta in Argentina, without causing any casualties, but inflicting thick smoke on several large agglomerations, while the authorities are questioning a practice “criminal” of burning.
Posted at 7:52 p.m.
Several outbreaks recorded in recent weeks on islands in the Parana delta, in the province of Entre Rios northwest of Buenos Aires, have destroyed up to 10,000 hectares of vegetation, according to the Environmental Observatory of the University of Rosario.
Rosario, the third most populous city in the country, was invaded Monday by smoke from these fires, and the Meteorological Service reported Tuesday smoke and burning smells, carried by prevailing north-northwest winds, on the agglomeration from Buenos Aires, 270 km away, a situation that will last until at least Wednesday.
Three firefighting planes, one surveillance, and three helicopters were mobilized on Tuesday on these fires.
Deputy Environment Minister Sergio Federovisky pointed the finger at the practice of burning, saying “that starting fires in such unfavorable weather conditions, with a drought for four years and the steep drop in the Parana River, is criminal . Whoever sets the fire under these conditions cannot ignore the context”.
In question the practice, traditional in this season, which aims to burn to regenerate the fields in view of seeds or pastures to come, but also according to Mr. Federovisky an opportunism which tends to prepare the “transformation of wetlands into future real estate developments ” .
He called for diligent justice, especially as the environmental authorities provided an “exact geolocation of the start of each of the fires, provided by the heat detection cameras installed in the area by the Ministry of the Environment”.
The authorities denounced “deliberate action by owners” and asked the province for land data to identify the owners of land with recurring fires and bring them to justice. “If justice does not take exemplary acts”, the wetlands of the Parana delta will continue to burn, supported the Minister of the Environment Juan Cabandié.
Four people have been arrested since Monday in connection with these fires or attempted fires.