{"id":321807,"date":"2026-01-09T18:15:53","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T10:15:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=321807"},"modified":"2026-01-09T18:19:57","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T10:19:57","slug":"argentina-arson-wildfire-in-patagonia-closes-highway-forces-evacuations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=321807","title":{"rendered":"Argentina: Arson wildfire in Patagonia closes highway, forces evacuations"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"768\" height=\"432\" src=\"https:\/\/ikona.telesurenglish.net\/content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/c94b1946ce193daf11d17b03e781d75852b4c339w-768x432.jpg.webp\" alt=\"Argentinian wildfire has engulfed the areas around El Hoyo and Epuy\u00e9n. Image from Janury 7. Photo: EFE.\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ikona.telesurenglish.net\/content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/c94b1946ce193daf11d17b03e781d75852b4c339w-300x169.jpg.webp 300w, https:\/\/ikona.telesurenglish.net\/content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/c94b1946ce193daf11d17b03e781d75852b4c339w-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/ikona.telesurenglish.net\/content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/c94b1946ce193daf11d17b03e781d75852b4c339w-768x432.jpg.webp 768w, https:\/\/ikona.telesurenglish.net\/content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/c94b1946ce193daf11d17b03e781d75852b4c339w-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/ikona.telesurenglish.net\/content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/c94b1946ce193daf11d17b03e781d75852b4c339w.jpg.webp 1920w\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>BUENOS AIRES, Jan 9 (NNN-EFE) &#8212; A massive, intentionally set wildfire,\u00a0burning\u00a0out of control in the mountainous Patagonian province of Chubut, Argentina, engulfed the areas around El Hoyo and Epuy\u00e9n, leading to the complete closure of the crucial National Route 40.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe situation is dramatic,\u201d said Ariel Ruiz, the fire operations chief for the neighboring Rio Negro province, in a statement to Argentinian media. Citing a year of extreme drought, he outlined the grim priorities: \u201cWhat we are trying to do is safeguard people\u2019s lives and then their homes. There aren\u2019t enough resources. We prioritize lives, property, and then the forest.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Authorities have executed preventive evacuations for eight families in the Coihue area near Epuy\u00e9n due to the imminent threat. A significant focus of the ground and aerial effort is the protection of School 81 in El Pedregoso, which lies directly in the path of the advancing firefront.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A contingent of over 300 personnel\u2014including provincial and national brigades, volunteer firefighters, Civil Defense, and security forces\u2014is combating the inferno.\u00a0They were supported throughout the day by\u00a0a fleet of six aircraft, including a helicopter and five water-dropping planes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A large-capacity Boeing 737 FireLiner, capable of releasing 15,000 liters of water or retardant in a single pass, was also deployed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Local prosecutor Carlos Diaz Mayer has confirmed the fire was deliberately set using accelerants, and an investigation is underway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The blaze, which began last Monday in the Puerto Patriada region, has rapidly consumed more than 3,500 hectares of native forest and grassland. &#8212; NNN-EFE<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BUENOS AIRES, Jan 9 (NNN-EFE) &#8212; A massive, intentionally set wildfire,\u00a0burning\u00a0out of control in the mountainous Patagonian province of Chubut, Argentina, engulfed the areas around El Hoyo and Epuy\u00e9n, leading to the complete closure of the crucial National Route 40. \u201cThe situation is dramatic,\u201d said Ariel Ruiz, the fire operations chief for the neighboring Rio [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":321809,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[208],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321807"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=321807"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321807\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":321808,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321807\/revisions\/321808"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/321809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=321807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=321807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=321807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}