A forest fire in La Pastora, Caracas, on Monday afternoon. Photo: Alejandro Martínez.
Venezuela’s minister for Ecosocialism, Josué Lorca, reported that the multiple forest fires that occurred in several parts of Caracas have been brought under control, and there are allegations that the may have been caused by arson.
The minister told the state media Venezolana de Televisión (VTV) late on Monday, April 8, that he is maintaining contact with the mayor of Caracas, Carmen Meléndez, and the chief of government of the Capital District, Nahum Fernández. He added that specialized personnel are attending to the fires, and some are already being extinguished.
“Our personnel are present on all the sites. The fires that have already been extinguished are under observation, and those that are being fought are also in the process of being brought under control,” he explained.
The minister made a list of the fires that were recorded:
- A fire that broke out Monday morning in La Boyera, municipality of El Hatillo, has been totally extinguished.
- Another fire broke out in the upper part of Semprum Street in Petare, Sucre municipality. It was totally extinguished.
- Three fires occurred in the Leonardo Ruiz Pineda park, in the La Vega sector towards Cota 905 of Caracas, and near the Andrés Bello Catholic University: all three events are under control and under observation.
- The fire that started in El Lídice sector at 2:00 p.m. was brought under control by 6:00 p.m. At 8:30 p.m. it had restarted, but was again brought under control by Monday night.
As for the fire at El Lídice, the community reported that they saw who started the fire, and the person is being located by the security forces. Minister Lorca stated that these fires were started to generate anxiety and destabilization, taking advantage of the dryness of the vegetation and the hot weather.
Regarding the wildlife that could have been affected, the minister said that small animals are the most affected as such animals flee from fires towards urban areas and may be killed accidentally. He asked the population to remain calm, not to intervene with the movement of the animals and, in case of capturing any animal, to contact the authorities, who would deal with the matter and return the animals to their natural environment.
Authorities fought 15 fires on Monday
Caracas Mayor Carmen Meléndez reported that all the agencies of the mayor’s office and firefighters were deployed to attend to the fires. The Caracas firefighters have attended 15 fires, she said to VTV.
There have been no victims in the fire at the Libertador municipality, and so far no houses have been affected because firebreaks were made in appropriate places.
One of the fires covered Camino de los Españoles, and spread to the Canaima neighborhood up to Los Flores. Another fire affected part of La Pastora sector, while another covered La Mamera-El Junquito and Antímano highways with smoke.
The fire that occurred in El Valle has already been extinguished, while firefighters are working to extinguish another in the 23 de Enero parish.
Meléndez expressed her surprise that these fires started simultaneously at different points. She reported that the mayor’s office is working with the communities to create attention crews, which will be given materials to prevent the fires from starting again. Dry weeds and leaves from the forest floors will also be removed.
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
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