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Ñuble to Face Fire Season with 200 Firefighters

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The Regional Wildfire Combat Plan was launched in Chillán. It was specified that there will be 2 Air Tractor planes, 4 helicopters, and 1 coordination aircraft.

With 14 ground brigades equipped with water, 2 mechanized brigades (skidder), 2 water tanker trucks, and 2 helitransported brigades, totaling 20 regional brigades, the region will face the current wildfire season, as announced yesterday during the launch of the 2024-2025 Regional Wildfire Combat Plan in Ñuble.

Regarding the number of brigades, the same count as last year is maintained, although the personnel assigned to firefighting duties has increased, reaching 200 people. As for aircraft, resources remain unchanged: 2 Air Tractor planes, 4 helicopters, and 1 coordination aircraft.

Additionally, by the end of the month, 15 operational brigades will be available in the region. The training process concludes in early December, completing the 20 resources. A total of 352 kilometers of firebreaks are planned for the region, primarily distributed in communes with higher fire occurrence (Quillón, San Carlos, Chillán, Yungay, among others).

The Minister of Agriculture, Esteban Valenzuela, present at the launch, emphasized that "the previous season was exceptionally remarkable in Ñuble. The region had 98% less impact than the terrible summer of 2023 and 94% less when measured against the five-year average. This was due to preventive work, the involvement of municipalities, various institutions, and strong coordination, as highlighted by Corma and Carabineros, along with all the work of different state institutions that learned much from the 2023 tragedy."

Meanwhile, the National Director of Conaf, Aida Baldini, urged a strong focus on protecting potential fire-risk areas in Ñuble. "The call is urgent—this is an area with good soil where grass grows abundantly. Some sectors already have grass 50 centimeters tall. We ask people to cut and bury it, to turn it into leaf compost—there are so many uses for it—but not to leave it as it is," she stated.

Source:Soychile.cl