After several days, over 250 hectares have been razed to the ground by the flames although firefighters from the capital and several regions have been working to control the blaze.

The Secretariat of Risk Management wrote on its X account that “due to unknown causes” the wildfire broke out in the buffer zone of the reserve, located in the Espejo canton, in Carchi.

“Over 170 people have tried to extinguishe the blaze,” the Secretariat revealed after informing that an Emergency Operations Committee will be activated on Sunday to strengthen actions to end the catastrophe.

The Ministry of Environment, Water and Ecological Transition, in turn, informed that due to the difficult access to the area and the prevailing winds, it has not been possible to control the flames.

In addition, it noted that they are conducting the relevant investigations to identify the causes of the wildfire, which is taking place while intense wildfires exacerbated in neighboring Colombia due to heat waves and droughts.

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