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Fire Reactivation in San Patricio Ruled Out After 7 Days of Monitoring

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Exactly seven days ago, the National Forestry Corporation of Ñuble (Conaf) declared that the fire in the Biosphere Reserve in the San Patricio sector was 100% under control, with only the confirmation of its total extinguishment remaining pending.

For this, the teams in charge of monitoring and observation must verify, after several days of follow-up, that the fire has been completely extinguished without any chance of a resurgence reigniting alarms.

This does not prevent the regional directorate of Conaf from confirming that a possible reactivation of the incident was—barring an extremely exceptional scenario—completely ruled out.

However, this week, with forecasts from Meteorology predicting days with temperatures exceeding 30 degrees and winds that could surpass 45 kilometers per hour, will be crucial in assessing the risks still potentially facing the mountainous sector of the Coihueco district.

Salvador Ramírez, the regional director of the agency, explains that "the San Patricio Fire remains under control, with damage not exceeding 1,954 hectares, which is undoubtedly a very positive and rarely seen scenario, considering the characteristics of topographical fires in foothill and mountainous areas."

Moreover, Conaf has emphasized that "the work deployed through our ground, aerial, and mechanized resources, from day one, has saved tens of thousands of hectares."

Regarding this final stage of extinguishing the fire, which began last week, Ramírez confirmed that "it has progressed favorably without any spread or active hotspots. However, given the persistent high temperatures, we will continue monitoring the area's developments, and if no new incidents arise, it will be declared fully extinguished in the coming days."

The Department of Protected Wilderness Areas at Conaf once again ruled out impacts on the natural habitat of the huemul, a situation that initially raised concerns among the general public and regional authorities, who also requested reports on potential losses of foxes and pumas.

These concerns were addressed, and according to findings by the department, no signs of lethal harm to these animals have been detected so far.

Source:La Discusión