by The sadness arm of Lake Nahuel Huapi is one of the sites Most beautiful in Patagonia.
This enormous value lies in the fact that it is a site only accessible by navigation. For many years, it was a place untouched, untrodden by human activity. But that changed with the rise of nature tourism. Local providers often offer day trips to its silent shores. On these trips, the boats moor and the passengers descend to spend the day at the mouths of streams and in the shade of the lengas and coihues. Although it is prohibited, everyone in Bariloche knows that Many times fires are lit to cook banquets.
This Tuesday, while the brigade members continued to fight the out-of-control flames, it was said that one of those events held last week could have triggered one of the outbreaks. No one openly confirmed it, but a complaint from the National Park Administration filed in the Federal Justice Department aims, among other things, to rule out or confirm that possibility.
The same local brigade members who were moved to the area of flames at dawn, indicated by name and surname who they believe was directly responsible for the fire: an expert in the area, a former mountaineer, who became a tourist service provider. They talked about exclusive events, where they cook over a fire, with the techniques popularized on television by the chef Francis Mallmann in his refuges in the south.
The difference is radical: The chef does his job on private lands, the Brazo Tristeza belongs to all Argentines, it is a paradise and the general rules of any protected area apply: it is prohibited to light a fire. There is abundant evidence, photos included in this note, that this restriction is violated.
Meanwhile, the fight continues to be against fire, against climate adversity and against the lack of political coordination. The National Parks depend on the Ministry of the Interior. Guillermo Francos should serve as the highest authority in charge of the catastrophe. The National Fire Management Plan, in turn, depends on the Environment Secretariat, which is now managed by Daniel Scioli. In parallel, each province has its own fire management agency. And everyone can ask the Nation for assistance. Like Chubut in the case of Los Alerces, now Río Negro is showing signs of bravery in the fight against the flames. But the question is whether this is enough.
An expert, former official of the Nahuel Huapi Park, explains: “There is little availability of air resources from both the ÁPN and the PNMF. There is also a low number of combatants available in the area to attack and contain the event. It is very complex, almost impossible to stop this.”
He adds: “The dehierarchization of the system of protected areas shows the poor strategic vision of conservation, especially of National Parks, which not only represents the most important tourist asset in Argentina, with tourism being one of the main generators of employment, if “No, it also shows the little knowledge of the value of our unique and little-explored biodiversity in scientific terms at a global level. The lack of strategic vision is also a crime…”
It is not the best time in National Parks to have to face an undertaking of this type. There are resentments and anger over the lack of defined leadership and fear over the possibility of a brutal cutback.
On the slopes, meanwhile, there is no choice but to fight. The isolation conditions that become special to the area are now a complexity to be able to save it. The other factor is the wind. The oscillating motion of the gusts, which makes the flames what they want. “If the wind changes, the fire will eat the Llao Llao,” the brigade members exaggerated this Tuesday. But it was not a far-fetched image. If the wind rotated to the northeast and the fire expanded towards the slope of Cerro López, it would then head towards Colonia Switzerland or Puerto Pañuelo. Faced with this hypothetical scenario, things would change drastically: They are densely populated areas.
On Monday, 17 fighters from the Department of Fire, Communications and Emergencies of the Nahuel Huapi National Park and 15 from SPLIF Bariloche worked on the right flank of the fire with water equipment and hand tools, seeking to contain the fire on a very complex terrain with abundant vegetation. . Composed of thick and thin material. There, a large amount of dry colihue cane was detected as a result of the last blooms of said species.
The Bell 407 Helicopter of the National Fire Management Service, with a 1,000-liter helicopter, made around 40 discharges over various points of the fire. In the afternoon the second helicopter with bucket arrived, a Bell 412, also from the SNMF, which joins today’s operations.
Until noon on Tuesday, the fire mainly affects Coihues and Cypress forests with Lenga in height, on the south coast of the Brazo Tristeza del Nahuel Huapi. It is on the north staircase of Cerro Capitan. The fire started at the mouth of the Cretón Stream, in an area that can only be accessed by lake.
The fire is active throughout its perimeteradvancing over the vegetation, and spreads over the surface, through the medium and thick vegetable fuel attached to the ground.
This Tuesday a new deployment of combatants took place via the lake. “Operational actions and aerial means will be subject to weather conditions, prioritizing the safety of all affected personnel,” they warned from Parks. Given the complexity and topography of the area, the deployment of hydrant aircraft for combat is not possible.
The deployment of resources, at the closing of this note, was as follows:
• 20 brigade members from the Nahuel Huapi National Park.
• 15 brigade members from the province’s Forest Fire Prevention and Fighting Service
of Río Negro – SPLIF, Bariloche Center.
• 16 volunteer firefighters from the Campanario and Melipal barracks.
• Department of Park Rangers of the Southern Zones, Lacustrine, Headquarters and a boat of
Lake Area of the National Park.
• A Naval Prefecture vessel with personnel from the institution.
• Six boats belonging to various tourism providers.
• Two helicopters with buckets, a Bell 407 and a Bell 412, both provided by the Service
National Fire Management.
• Two drones, each with its own pair of operators, for observation tasks.
• Provincial Police and municipal traffic personnel coordinating traffic in
small circuit and the entire Bustillo avenue.
• 35 brigade members from the National Parks Administration.
