Seven regions of Chile are on red alert due to high temperatures, from the capital to the south where the most affected have been the regions of Ñuble, Biobío and La Araucanía.
Meanwhile, the phenomenon of high temperatures will continue until this weekend, however there are still obvious risks of forest fires and for workers exposed to the sun for long hours.
That is why the Institute for Agricultural Development (Indap) joined the call by Conaf (National Forestry Corporation) to suspend agricultural work with machinery in at least four regions of southern Chile during this week due to the heat wave that affects that area. Specifically, between Friday the 3rd and Saturday the 4th of February, there will be historical maximum temperatures around 40°C from the Maule region to La Araucanía.
The purpose of this call by both organizations is to prevent the generation of forest fires, in addition to the ravages that can affect and destroy crops, as well as livestock from family farming. For its part, the weather forecast warns of very high maximum temperatures, and with historical levels in some areas of Ñuble and Biobío.
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Given this scenario, although the recommendation is to reinforce the usual fire prevention measures, reaching “zero activity”, the focus of the suspension of these tasks is, at least, between 12:00 and 18:00 hours, in that hourly range, the most damaging sections of the heat wave are recorded. For this reason, any spark from any machinery during its processes or rubbing against stones could trigger a new forest fire. In this regard, Senapred (National Service for Prevention and Response to Disasters) reported on 176 active forest fires and the fight against 37 of these throughout Chile.
“We are under an alert for extreme high temperatures in the center south of the country, which would reach 37 to 40 degrees in the section from Maule to La Araucanía. Together with the dry Puelche wind (a type of wind that comes from the eastern zone and is characterized by being strong and sporadic) they are very risky conditions for the generation of fires”, explained the national director of INDAP, Santiago Rojas Alessandri.
“So we call on the farmers to do everything possible for ‘zero activity’ with agricultural machineryat least from 12:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., and assume all the other measures that together with services such as Conaf we have indicated to avoid these accidents ”, he insisted.
Besides, Rolando Pardo, national head of Conaf’s Department of Prevention and Mitigation of forest fires, whose unit heads the management of measures and surveillance, detailed the importance of avoiding these tasks. At least, between the hours of higher temperatures and with special attention in the threshing.
“At higher temperatures and lower humidity, the fuel is available to react to any spark. Hence the need for the machines not to pass over the wheat or the waste, or for the thresher not to rub against the stones because that effectively generates fires and the possibility of losing the harvest,” he declared.
Likewise, the regional governor of Ñuble, Oscar Chrysostomspecified that “We also want to recommend to the different public and private institutions the suspension of sports activities that are planned, especially those in public and open spaces. We have asked the hospitals, the Health Service and the network in general to adopt special measures for both patients and workers and, in addition, we want to make a call to focus our work on some segments that are worrying, particularly , the elderly, children and babies who are the ones who can suffer the most with this heat wave ”.
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