“It will require the exclusive attention of the president, of our vice president, David Choquehuanca. We are going to move, the entire Cabinet, to the city of Santa Cruz to lead the work we have to do to confront the fires,” said the president during a speech at the government headquarters.
Arce said that the fires had originated in eastern Bolivia and are causing much concern due to the damage to the flora, fauna and the health of the population. He stated that these fires are ravaging a good part of South America, with a special impact on Brazil, Paraguay, part of Argentina, Peru and Ecuador.
“This is certainly a worrying task, what has happened is unusual, what is happening in our Bolivia is absolutely atypical, that is why we have made the decision to move there and from there begin to monitor, do and direct the work that is necessary for this,” the president said.
The Authority for the Supervision and Social Control of Forests and Land confirmed on Wednesday that to date active fires have been reported in 24 municipalities in the departments of Santa Cruz and Beni, prompting Arce to announce that Bolivia will have a technology called “guardian boxes”, consisting of one thousand-liter water tanks to put out forest fires from the air, starting this Thursday.
The devices were provided by Peru and allow large volumes of water to be transported by plane or helicopter and launched from the air, making them an effective means of extinguishing forest fires. “Each of these boxes can carry up to a thousand liters (of water) and 150 will arrive this Thursday, which we will put (into operation) in Santa Cruz,” confirmed Arce.
The plan consists of C-130 Hercules planes unloading 15 thousand liters of water on each flight using this system, while in the next few days a tanker plane with a capacity of 11 thousand liters per flight will arrive in Bolivia, according to reports.
Within the context of the National Emergency Situation due to the fires, Arce instructed the Ministry of Defense to militarize the roads or entrances to the communities affected by the forest fires, with the objective of guaranteeing security and transit or evacuation if necessary.
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