The Argentine Patagonia faces, once again, a devastating fire near the levels of last year’s disaster and in the midst of a budget adjustment arranged by the far-right Government that makes the tasks of prevention and fire fighting.
The flames have consumed almost 6,000 hectares, mainly in the province of Chubut1,700 kilometers south of the city of Buenos Aires. Several towns had to be evacuated. Numerous houses destroyed, animals dead and a very difficult panorama for firefighters and brigade members. Protected areas face the danger of turning into ashes. The response capacity of the provincial state has been overwhelmed. The Chubut authorities spoke of an intentional act. 95% of the outbreaks have human origin.
“This season is in line with the ‘new normal’ which indicates that annually in the Andean zone of Northern Patagonia, hundreds or thousands of hectares are no longer burned, but tens of thousands of hectares,” Thomas Kitzberger, senior researcher at the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), told the portal. Infobae.
The Andean-Patagonian forests have an area of about three million hectares that extend from the province of Río Negro to Tierra del Fuego, in the extreme south of Argentina. They constitute one of the last reserves of temperate forests with low human alteration and high biodiversity. The era of Javier Miley is marked by an unprecedented intensity of these incidents in the forest and presidential disdain for new weather conditions. According to Greenpeace, in 2025 31,722 hectares of this region will be affected, which quadrupled the numbers of the previous year.
“The fires that are currently passing through Patagonia are another of the alarming symptoms of the impacts of the global climate crisis. The increasingly extreme and frequent weather conditions, which lead to prolonged droughts and “Changes in local weather patterns favor the spread of fire.”recalled the portal of the environmental lawyers. State “inaction” worsens circumstances again. “An enormous ancient heritage of native flora and fauna, and the societies that depend on them, is devastated year after year. Far from being isolated phenomena, they are a direct consequence of human decisions.” The negligence of the State to anticipate the facts, the excessive growth of extensive forest plantations with invasive exotic species deeply adapted to a greater fire regime, such as pines, “generate a breeding ground for these phenomena.” Exponential population growth and the lack of urban planning, with “repeated attempts to modify the legislation regarding land use” for real estate use“they create the conditions to aggravate the devastating effects”
Out of money
The situation takes place amid a lack of funding for the National Fire Management Service. During 2024, the Government executed only 22% of the state budget assigned to that organization. The problem was repeated in 2025. The 2026 Budget Law approved by the far right accounts for a 69% cut in money compared to 2023 and 78.5% compared to 2025.
Brigade members and volunteer neighbors worked to the limit to stop an out-of-control fire. They are not only limited by the rate of spread of the fires that keeps the small communities of the region in suspense. Many of the Argentine professional brigade members have been forced to resort to moonlighting to make ends meet. Milei’s “chainsaw” left their salaries at about 500 euros.
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