Peruvian authorities on Thursday scrambled to roll out a plan to fight fires raging out of control across the nation, razing crops, damaging archeological treasures and leaving several regions in a state of disaster.
Firefighters said battling the blazes has grown increasingly difficult.
“We’re tired,” said a volunteer firefighter in the forests of the northern Amazonas region who declined to give his name. “We put the fire out, it lights back up. We put it out, the fire breaks out again.”
Photo: AP
Firefighters in the area retreated from the flames on Thursday.
“They’re out of control,” said Arturo Morales, another volunteer firefighter. “We need help.”
Peruvian President Dina Boluarte on Wednesday declared a 60-day state of emergency in the San Martin, Amazonas and Ucayali regions, allocating extra resources to stop the fires from spreading.
“We’re rolling out everything we have,” Boluarte said in a speech.
She called on farmers to stop burning grasslands, which she said caused flames to spread out of control.
Forest fires in Peru are frequent from August to November, with the government blaming farmers or people who are looking to illegally take over land.
About 240 fires have broken out this season in 22 of the country’s 25 regions, though more than 80 percent had been controlled by Wednesday.
However, some are threatening to spark up again with dry weather, winds and their remote locations making them difficult to access.
The flames have already reached seven archeological sites and are threatening the indigenous Shipibo-Konibo community in the Amazon, the Peruvian Ministry of Culture said.
In total, nearly 2,300 hectares of farmland has been burned and 140 people have been injured, official data showed on Wednesday.
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