US EditionArgentina declares emergency over Patagonia wildfires
Wildfires have scorched over 45,000 hectares in Patagonia, with budget cuts and climate conditions hampering firefighting efforts, authorities said.
- Declaring a state of emergency on Thursday, President Javier Milei's administration unlocked funds to support volunteer firefighters in Patagonia, covering Chubut, Río Negro, Neuquén and La Pampa.
- When lightning-started fires in early December spread amid high temperatures and strong winds, cuts to firefighting budgets left response efforts weakened, Milei said.
- Hundreds of firefighters are trying to protect towns, while ranks are strained from layoffs and exhaustion, amid over 45,000 hectares burned in southern Chubut.
- Park managers resigned after initial delays, residents filed criminal complaints, and left-leaning opposition parties staged protests across provinces amid mounting anger.
- With another 71% funding cut planned this year, the service employs 391 staff, short of the recommended 700 firefighters, said Andrés Nópoli, director of FARN.
136 Articles
136 Articles
The fires in the Argentine Patagonia do not stop. Since January 5, more than 36 thousand hectares of native forests, pastures and prairies have been destroyed according to the data of the Agencia Federal de Emergencias (AFE). The affected areas are located in particular in the Andean Comarch on the border with Chile, a vast area characterized by woods and mountain landscapes. The province of Chubut is the most affected and the flames have also r…
The governor of the province of Buenos Aires, Axel Kicillof, accused this Friday the government of the Argentine president, Javier Milei, of incurring a “deliberate abandonment” of Patagonia for the interruption of the funds destined for the combat of the forest fires, in front of the advance of the flames that have already razed more than 45,000 hectares of native forest. “The interruption of the funds to fight the fires shows a deliberate aban…
The fire does not give way. And in which it is perhaps the most critical moment since the fires (and the fight against the flames) began, almost a month ago, the National Government declared and formalized the state of emergency Ígnea for the period of one year for the provinces of Chubut, Río Negro, Neuquén and La Pampa. The announcement was made through a Decree of Necessity and Emergency. The measure, which was confirmed by the presidential s…
Fires ravage several parts of the southern hemisphere. Chile, Argentina or Australia, on the other side of the Pacific, are involved. Each time, the exceptional heat and intense drought created conditions conducive to fire departures. In Argentina, the state of emergency fire was declared on Thursday 29 January, while in the Melbourne region, the memory of the "black summer" of six years ago is in all heads.
According to experts, the forest fires in Patagonia have been the most violent in decades. Argentina's President Milei has now declared the emergency for the affected areas. Critics had previously accused him of inaction.
Since December 2025 huge forest areas have been burning in Argentina. President Javier Milei has declared the national fire emergency.
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