René Muñoz, Manager of the Forest Contractors Association: "Forests don't burn by themselves, there is someone's action that sets a fire and causes a wildfire"

The manager of the Forest Contractors Association (Acoforag), René Muñoz, refers to the wildfire emergency affecting the south-central zone of the country, stating that the State should generate a policy to anticipate this type of catastrophe. "Since 2017 we have had these catastrophic wildfires, we had another in 2023, we had the Viña fire in 2024. Now we have a fourth fire with extreme conditions, and we have learned nothing. The same thing keeps happening," he alleges.

Amid one of the most serious wildfire emergencies in recent years in the south-central zone of the country, the manager of the Forest Contractors Association (Acoforag), René Muñoz, discusses the origin of the disasters in a conversation with The Clinic and does not rule out the hypothesis of intentionality.

In its report today, the Government confirmed that there are 19 deceased, 630 people sheltered—a situation that could change during the day—in addition to 19 operational shelters. Along with this, 1,533 affected people have been registered, 325 homes destroyed, and 1,140 under assessment.

Regarding this, Muñoz says that "forests don't burn by themselves, there is someone's action that sets a fire and causes a wildfire."

Following this, the leader of the forestry guild adds that "a sixth-generation wildfire, like the one that occurred, is uncontrollable. And even if a firebreak, or an interface zone, between the last house and the forest of 100 meters, or 200 meters, or up to a kilometer or several kilometers is established, you don't stop it with the climatic condition that generated this fire. It is an uncontrollable fire."

In his opinion, what needs to be done to avoid these episodes in the future, which are intensified by extreme climate events, is to take preventive measures. "For example, a preventive state of emergency could be established with military, police, and people patrolling the areas, anticipating the event. That has not been done, and we have learned nothing," he proposes.

"Since 2017 we have had these catastrophic wildfires, we had another in 2023, we had the Viña fire in 2024. Now we have a fourth fire with extreme conditions, and we have learned nothing. The same thing keeps happening to us. Everything that people whose houses have burned down are suffering, and the State is not capable of generating a different policy," notes Muñoz.

In that sense, he declares that "preventive measures must be generated to anticipate the consequences caused by these catastrophic fifth, sixth-generation wildfires, which are the ones that will accompany us in the future. So, we have to have public policies that seek a solution, and today, we do not see that."

On the other hand, the representative of Acoforag maintained that "it is also necessary to progress in improving investigations by the Public Prosecutor's Office. There is a great deficit, given that many of those arrested for wildfires do not pay for their crime in jail, and the law has to be afflictive in that sense. That is, it has to be expensive to burn, and on top of that to destroy and cause deaths, as has happened in the various wildfires."

"There is a large space where the Public Prosecutor's Office has to modernize, it has to have better investigation systems, because burning, destroying, and causing deaths cannot be free," concludes Muñoz.

Source:The Clinic