More than 4,000 hectares have been devastated by fires in the northern Argentine province of Jujuy; it was officially announced Friday.
According to the National Fire Protection Service (SNMF), part of the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development, 50 brigadiers and two hydrant aircraft are operating in the area.
The forest fires were registered in the locality of Yuto, near Calilegua National Park, located more than 1,500 kilometers from Buenos Aires and managed by the National Park Service.
It was created in 1989 and covered an area of more than 76,000 hectares, belonging to the Selva de las Yungas (Mountain Jungle) ecoregion.
The director of Jujuy Vegetation Fires, Alejandro Cooke, told the local press this Friday that in recent hours there have been “scorching winds and at high speed.”
“This led to a quadrupling of the area affected. To date, we have burned 4,000 hectares,” he said.
He also pointed out that the fire is spreading parallel to both sides of National Route 34 and has not yet affected any homes.
“All the ministries are working together and providing the necessary elements for the brigades and the new crews that will arrive,” Cooke said.
This Friday, the director of the SNMF, Alberto Seufferheld, met in Jujuy with the Minister of Environment and Climate Change of Jujuy, María Inés Zigarán.
The official warned that “the weather situation is not the best” to extinguish the fires in Yuto, located 161 kilometers northeast of the provincial capital of San Salvador de Jujuy.
LITHIUM REGION
Today, Argentina is the fourth largest lithium producer in the world and the second country in lithium reserves worldwide. They have 12 projects that would make Argentina the world’s leading lithium producer, producing more than 300 thousand tons of LCE (lithium carbonate).
Lithium is the financial future of Argentina. Among the most important lithium projects referred to by the executive, in different stages of development, are Sales de Jujuy and Fenix (in expansion), Olaroz, Caucharí Olaroz, Centenario-Ratones, Salar del Rincón, Sal de Vida, Tres Quebradas, Pastos grandes and Sal de oro.
The provinces of Salta, Jujuy, and Catamarca are the ones with these projects that exceed investments of more than US$5 billion in the short term.
Perhaps the conflagrations in this region must also be viewed from this perspective.