A fire that started two weeks ago has already consumed some 200 hectares of native forests in the Argentine province of Salta, in the northwest of the country, where firefighters are working to try to control the flames, official sources reported this Sunday.
[UN Warns South America Led Global Forest Loss in Decade: Fire Consumes 200 Hectares of Native Forest in Northwest Argentina](https://www.telesurenglish.net/fire-consumes-200-hectares-of-native-forest-in-northwest-argentina/)
According to the Federal Emergency Agency, the focus of the fire near the city of Cafayate, in Salta, remained active this Sunday, with a total of 200 hectares devastated by the fire.
The fire started on June 7 and was contained by firefighters on June 13, but reactivated a few days later.
The Salta Justice initiated an investigation under the suspicion that the origin of the fire may be intentional.
Las llamas avanzan sobre Cafayate, en la provincia de Salta, donde un incendio de grandes dimensiones afecta zonas de dunas y bosques protegidos.
El siniestro ya arrasó más de 200 hectáreas de vegetación nativa, obligando a un despliegue de brigadistas, bomberos voluntarios y… pic.twitter.com/fLP9ShNQOn
— mavica (@mavica7) June 21, 2026
As reported this Sunday by the Government of Salta in a statement, the combat teams are made up of Civil Defense firefighters from Salta, Cafayate firefighters, personnel from the National Fire Management Service and provincial police.
Two hydrants, vans and tanker trucks are involved in the operation. The combat tasks are complicated by the strong wind in the area. The Undersecretary of Civil Defense of Salta, Ignacio Vílchez, pointed out that the teams continue to work on underground fires and critical sectors of the fire.
“The characteristic of this fire is that we have many underground fires, which makes control difficult. There is a lot of root system and many fallen trees. The entire fire sector was on native forest, especially carob, a very long-lived and very slow-growing species. There were total losses and it is regrettable,” Vílchez affirmed.
Between last spring and the austral summer, almost 70,000 hectares of forest were burned in Argentine Patagonia due to four super fires, half the area that fire destroyed in the previous 23 years, an unstoppable trend that can only be contained with prevention given the irreversible reality of climate change.
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