LIVE: The fires in the eastern hills of Bogotá could take two more days to be controlled

Parliamentarian Katherine Miranda spoke in her X account regarding the emergency currently experienced in the Eastern Hills, where she assured that the Colombian Aerospace Force has not received the necessary resources to carry out maintenance on the water discharge planes. even before the imminent arrival of the so-called El Niño phenomenon.

“INCREDIBLE! Since 2022, the Colombian Aerospace Force has asked Ungrd for resources to maintain the firefighting unit and they have done NOTHING! Until yesterday, when we reported it, they allocated the money. “They knew the child phenomenon was coming and they did NOTHING!” said Congresswoman Katherine Miranda.

The commander of the Bogotá Fire Department, Fidel Medina, spoke with Blu Radio about the issue and highlighted that despite the strong winds, the emergency has been gradually controlled by the authorities, highlighting that it has not been in its entirety, since for now it is urgent to avoid for the flames to advance to other areas, a task that could take up to two days.

“The fire last night advanced by a few percentage points, which means that we have it confined, but we cannot trust ourselves, we have to continue working hard, these fires have three characteristics and they are subsoil, surface and crown, what we want to avoid is that spread and advance to other places such as the north and the east,” Medina said.

The forest fires in Bogotá have already been active for more than 48 hours; Despite the heroic work of relief agencies, the flames have advanced rapidly. From various points in the capital it is evident how a black stain covers the eastern hills, where Firefighters and the National Army are trying to control the conflagration in its entirety.

During the night of January 23 and early morning of January 24, the National Army in the company of the Bogotá Firefighters carried out an overflight in the emergency zone, where several active outbreaks were evident, which according to the institution; They must be attended to from the air due to the difficulties of accessing by land.

“Through an overflight with a drone by the Bogotá Fire Department, it was evident that the South-Eastern outbreak was 95% extinguished during the night. Meanwhile, in the Upper North part there are two active outbreaks that are difficult to access by land,” the Army explained.

The local leader assured that thanks to the work of the institutions that have worked in the emergency zone, the impact of the fires in the city has been reduced. Likewise, he explained that during the day air support will be implemented to control the entire conflagration.

“The strategy led by the Bogotá Firefighters and the team of the XIII Brigade of the National Army has had an important effect in the last hours on the fire in the Eastern Hills. The manual work carried out throughout the night has allowed the fire to be contained. At this time we can talk about 70% control of the fire. In the next few minutes, air support will be reactivated and, if the weather permits, we hope to fully control the fire today. To all those who have worked tirelessly, to those who have expressed their support for us and to the entire city, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!”, Galán mentioned.

The flames have destroyed several hectares of forest in the traditional eastern hills of Bogotá; Fires try to be controlled by firefighters and other official institutions.