Ecuador declares a 60-day state of emergency to help fight wildfires | Weather News

It is an emergency to allow the government to send more money, people to help control the flames, said the minister.

Ecuador has declared a 60-day state of emergency as the South American country has been hit by a severe drought and recorded wildfires that have devastated large areas in recent weeks.

The Ecuadorian Secretariat for Risk Management (SNGR), the country’s emergency management agency, said in a statement on Monday that the state of emergency was declared “due to forest fires, lack of water and drought”.

It will allow the government to raise funds and send more people to help fight the fire, said Environment Minister Ines Manzano.

Approved by the Ministry of Environment, Water and Environmental Reform, it will allow the release of funds to address various difficulties, SNGR said.

Authorities are battling 17 wildfires, which have mostly affected the provinces of Azuay and Loja in southern Ecuador. Another five fires were recently brought under control, said the secretary.

The fires in the two states affected about 10,200 hectares (25,204 acres) of forest and land.

In September, a massive wildfire threatened the country’s capital, Quito, engulfing it in smoke and ash. More than 2,000 firemen, rescuers and members of the military were deployed to evacuate civilians and put out the fire.

Ecuador is facing its worst drought in 60 years, which has affected water levels in hydroelectric dams – the source of more than 70 percent of the country’s energy.

Since October, the government has had to enforce daily blackouts of up to 14 hours a day as it urged its 17 million people to conserve electricity.

According to the Global Wildfire Information System (GWIS), which monitors wildfires worldwide, the wildfire risk forecast in Ecuador is expected to increase from high to extreme in the affected states.

Record-breaking fires have also broken out in other South American countries, including Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, Bolivia and Peru, as the region has been hit by a severe drought.

The US agency, NASA, reported that smoke could be seen in the atmosphere in many parts of the region from July to October due to the fire while the rivers in the Amazon basin dropped to record low levels last month.

The drought, which has been worsening since the last half of 2023, has been linked to El Nino weather and climate change.