Three municipalities of Caldas are on red alert in high temperatures for wildfires

The head of the Caldas Risk Management Unit, Félix Ricardo Giraldo Delgado, announced that high temperatures were being recorded in various regions of the department, with the cities of Aguadas, Pacora and Salamina on red alert.

These municipalities located in the northern part of the department, According to the latest bulletin released by the Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies, IDEA, the vegetation cover poses a high risk of fire.

According to the official, these alerts were generated by the National Order Entity after conducting a satellite review, “taking into account high temperatures, solar radiation and rainfall amounts in recent days.”

Additionally, Ideam indicated that Caldas has an orange alert due to the possibility of wildfires in Anserma, Chinchiná, Marmato, Palestina, Riosucio, Risaralda, San José, Supía and Viterbo. Yellow Alert was received by Aranzazu, Belalcazar, Philadelphia, La Merced, Manizales, Neira, Norcascia, Samaná and Villamaría.

“We call on the community to avoid controlled burning. Neither matches, matches or cigarettes should be thrown in areas with dry vegetation”Giraldo Delgado and reminded citizens of the rational use of water and the importance of using sunscreen to protect the skin from high solar radiation.

From the Caldas Environment Secretariat, he stressed that the idea does not rule out that the isolated rains occur mainly in the eastern municipalities; For this reason, he called on local authorities to keep contingency plans active for the rainy season, both for landslides and flash floods.

“It is also necessary to monitor unstable areas or hydrographic basins, which have presented problems in recent months. You cannot let your guard down, despite sunny days,” said the head of the risk management unit.

He stressed that the Caldas authorities are already preparing for the El Niño event that is expected in the second half of the year and that the government’s efforts are focused on guaranteeing road connectivity to all places.

,There is preparation for vegetation cover and potential problems of water supply have to be faced. We call on the whole community to be aware of all official communications and let’s not let our guard down on these sunny days like the one being presented this week”, he indicated from the Ministry of the Environment.

The analysis done by idiom experts is that the rainfall recorded in Caldas has generated moisture saturation in the soil. This is the reason why different probability levels arise for possible landslides in steep mountainous areas.

Marquetalia, Norcasia, Pennsylvania, Samaná and Victoria are on red alert for the potential for landslides. An orange alert has been issued for Ansarma, La Merced, Manizales, Manzanares, Marmato, Marulanda, Neira, Riosucio, Salamina and Supia.

Antioquia burns: eight fires and one elderly man die in flames

The Administrative Department of Disaster Risk Management of Antioquia confirmed that there have been eight incidents of fire in the past week. The emergency resulted in the death of an elderly person and left others materially harmed. There is an alert in the area regarding the fire.

Occurrences caused by vegetation and structural cover have occurred in the municipalities of Copacabana, Rionegro, Liborina, Puerto Nare, Caldas, Amaga, Envigado and Apartado. The cause of each one is being studied by the relief agencies.

In this last town Mr. Rinaldo Antonio Medina, aged 85, lost his life. The balance suggests that he could not be evacuated in time from the flames that destroyed his residence, located in the 20 de Enroe neighborhood. His body was recovered by the authorities of Urba Antioquia.

In Liborina, a vegetation cover fire was recorded that affected 50 ha of native forest and grassland. The ground conditions and strong wind were making it difficult to control the fire. It took several hours to get the unfortunate emergency under control.

Support was available from the Antioquia Governor’s Office, city firefighters and a ranger team from Sabanalarga, Civil Defense, Empresa Publicas de Medellin, units of the National Army and technical teams from the Colombian Air Force to attend the event.

same scene repeated In the municipalities of Amaga, Puerto Nare and Caldas, where 15 hectares were compromised. In comparison to what happened in the west of the department, the institutions governing it controlled it themselves.

In Rionegro, a structural fire damaged six commercial establishments, although initially, the local administration reported that seven buildings located in the main square of the eastern Antioquia subregion were damaged.

In Envigado, a structural fire was also reported that caused the total loss of two factories: one for furniture and the other for wooden pallets. The event was attended by firefighters from Envigado, Sabaneta and Itagui, the Civil Defense, the Red Cross and the National Police.

Among them is an old woman known to the relief agencies of the municipality of Envigado. In October 2022, amid a security inspection, it was decided not to proceed with the case as they were not ready.

This was told by Captain Luis Morales, commander of the fire department: “It should be noted that the company had conducted an inspection in October last year And, not complying with the complete requirements, the Human Safety Certificate was not issued.

Apparently he was asked to improvise for another trip where he could get approval from relief agencies. This company will not have an established protocol against last hour fires.

The government of Antioquia requested extreme security measures to avoid this type of emergency, as these days may become more frequent as rain will be less, although precipitation influenced by La Niña has not been ruled out.