The interventions of firefighters from Bahia in natural grass fires during the last month and a half were less than expected, due to the abundant rains recorded and the few days with high temperatures that occurred.
However, the barracks chiefs consulted La Nueva. agreed that the decrease in the number of igneous foci on grassland surfaces is momentary, as the alert and precautions they take each year in the summer season continue.
From the Central Fire Department, dependent on the Police of the Province of Buenos Aires, they confirmed a decrease in the number of exits compared to previous months.
“The weather conditions from last December to date favored the drop in the number of departures,” explained a source from the institution.
In the last month of last year, the Central firefighters had a total of 51 exits as a result of pasture fires, while in January they have attended about 15 accidents of these characteristics.
“Thank God there were few outings on rainy days, but before we had several complex days. The alert is, because we have information from the National Meteorological Service and the National Fire Plan “, they remarked.
“The alert continues to be maintained no matter how long we have this ‘break’, to call it somehow. We think that once the situation that occurs in the summer is normalized, we will resume the tasks of extinguishing the fire in the fields ”.
The members of the body estimated that the number of departures at this time would be “from equal to greater” than those recorded between the end of 2019 and the beginning of 2020, because of “all the alarms that had been activated regarding a potential fire forest ”in this area.
“We don’t trust each other even though these days we are relaxed; in fact, we are already thinking about how to work and how we are going to divide the tasks. In the internal part of the barracks we have several firefighters with specific functions, and taking into account that many exits are planned due to grass fires, we divided ourselves among the personnel to be able to cover as many sources as possible at the same time, ”they continued.
The current meteorological conditions indicate “the possibilities that there is of a fire of great magnitude”.
“The south of the province, including Bahía Blanca, is no stranger to these alarms. That is why we must do prevention and inform ”, they concluded.
“It calmed down a lot”
Andrea Tumminello, head of the General Daniel Cerri volunteer fire station, said that from mid-December of last year to date the situation “has calmed down a lot.”
“In November we had more departures than in other years and the first days of December had also been quite strong, but since the 15th of that month and until now the situation has calmed down a lot,” he said.
“We thought that this was going to be a much more complicated season, although the rains surely helped reduce our interventions.”
He added that “the largest number of exits, due to the location of the barracks and our coverage area, almost always correspond to grassland fires.”
According to statistics provided by the head of the Cerrense entity, between November 1, 2020 and last January 10, the firefighters of the neighboring town collaborated in 66 fires of this type.
Regarding the weather for the next few days, he announced that a “heat wave” is forecast for next week.
“This means that the grass, abundant from the last rains, dries faster, because the sun’s temperature absorbs the moisture from the soil and the fuel is drier,” explained Tumminello.
“The weather conditions are quite changeable, because we have a very hot week and another week in which the temperatures drop. We did not have large fires in the fields area, but there were a couple in December in the La Vitícola sector, where approximately 500 hectares were burned in two days ”, he concluded.
“Saving” rains that avoided fiery outbreaks
In line with his colleagues, Norberto Colacce, head of the Ingeniero White volunteer fire station, said that the number of emergency exits from the port division decreased in recent weeks.
During the aforementioned period, his personnel served in only 16 forest fires, since, as he considered, the recent rains were “saving” to prevent new cases.
“For the holidays, after Christmas Eve, when they start with the fireworks (which can cause fires), we always have many exits, but this year we did not have Christmas or New Years,” said Colacce.
“And on a day-to-day basis, with the 3 or 4 departures that we usually have, now perhaps we only have one isolated”, described the person in charge of the port distribution.
Later, he explained that this type of accident is generally triggered when someone lights a fire to burn grass or waste, but then the flames get out of control.
“The rains of the last few days calm the situation capable of 3 or 4 days, but when there are days of wind and sun, in a week the panorama is the same as before,” said the public servant.
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