Colombian authorities declared a public calamity after a wildfire tore through mountains surrounding Villa de Leyva, one of the country’s best-known colonial tourist towns, scorching about 290 hectares of vegetation and forcing preventive evacuations as firefighters battled strong winds.
The blaze began Saturday on a mountain overlooking Villa de Leyva, about 160 km northeast of Bogotá. By Sunday evening, authorities said it was around 50 per cent under control after burning an area roughly equivalent to 400 football fields. Strong winds complicated containment efforts and at times pushed the flames towards populated areas, prompting authorities to suspend in-person classes Monday and evacuate people from vulnerable locations, including hotels near the fire.
Hundreds battle blaze
More than 400 firefighters, emergency personnel, residents and volunteers joined the operation, while four helicopters were deployed to drop water on the flames. Carlos Amaya, governor of Boyacá, where Villa de Leyva is located, said aircraft carried out around 170 water drops Sunday, releasing approximately 240,000 litres.
The scale and proximity of the fire to residential and tourist areas prompted local authorities to declare an emergency as crews worked to establish containment lines and prevent the blaze from spreading further.
Environment Minister Fabio Arjona said preliminary information from the country’s disaster management agency suggested the fire may have been deliberately started, although authorities were still investigating its cause.
President Abelardo De La Espriella said Sunday that the fire was around 50 per cent controlled and had been contained on the ground.
19 fires still active
The Villa de Leyva blaze is part of a wider wave of forest fires affecting Colombia amid dry weather and heightened fire danger. The national disaster management agency said authorities were monitoring 27 forest fires across the country, of which 19 remained active and eight had been brought under control.
Nine of the active fires were reported in Tolima, a mountainous region southwest of Bogotá, while others were burning across several areas of the Andes.
Colombia’s weather agency said 279 municipalities were under some level of wildfire warning, with 36 placed under its highest red-alert category. Much of the risk was concentrated in the Andean and Caribbean regions.
Government figures showed that 438 forest fires were recorded across 191 municipalities between June 16 and August 6, affecting around 7,153 hectares of vegetation.
Ecuador battles fires
Neighbouring Ecuador is also confronting a surge in wildfires, with high temperatures and strong winds helping flames spread rapidly in some areas. Ecuador’s national risk management agency said Sunday that 12 fires remained active, while more than 21,800 hectares of vegetation had burned across the country so far this year.
A fire on the slopes of Ecuador’s Imbabura volcano burned around 300 hectares before being brought under control Sunday following three days of firefighting.
Authorities in both countries are preparing for the effects of El Niño, the periodic warming of the tropical Pacific that can reduce rainfall and raise temperatures in parts of the region. Such conditions can dry vegetation and make it easier for wildfires to start and spread.
Disaster management officials have identified the period between October and April as carrying the greatest risk from the developing El Niño, with forest fires and water shortages among the principal concerns.