The normality returns after the fire

The National Forestry Corporation (CONAF) is preparing a restoration program for the zones affected by the fire that the national park Torres del Paine suffered over 10 days.

According to preliminary reports by Conaf the fire reached 13,880 hectares, which is equivalent to 7% of the park. The most complicated sectors are Lake Azul, Lake Cebolla and the Paine Waterfall, all of which are still subject to attempts at containing the fire.

It’s worth pointing out that the principle attraction of Torres del Paine, the grouping of three permanently snow-capped mountains, which bring together circuits in the W trail, were not affected by the fire, since they are located in other zones of the park, which in total account for an area extending over 180,000 hectares.

It is for this reason that during all of the control and fire containment efforts, the Park closed only once and is currently operating at a normal level. Additionally, its two most important accesses are as unaffected as always. As a result, hotels and other services are functioning and receiving tourists that visit the place in the customary way.

The ferocious fire broke out last February 17th when the Czech tourist Jiri Smitak was undertaking an excursion and his gas camp stove caught fire in an unauthorized campsite in an area intended for grazing.

In an interview with the El Mercurio newspaper, the Czech tourist acknowledged his responsibility, and said he was sorry for the great damage that he caused and he asked for Chilean’s forgiveness. “What happened changed my life; I’ll never forget the flames. I would like to express my most profound regret to the Chilean people for the damage caused,” he stated.

With respect to the restoration plan - requested by the Ministry of Agriculture of Conaf – the plan will be ready in approximately 45 days, since, due to the conditions of the terrain, they must act rapidly in order to avoid erosion. Arturo Barrera, Minister of this project, explained that the first activities of this program will begin during the spring and will utilize national, local, and international resources for completion.

The program undertakes ground protection activities, reforestation with indigenous species and transplantation of young samples from neighboring forests.

“The established activities of a plan such as this one will involve high implementation costs, since establishing a new forest in these conditions costs at least some 800 thousand pesos per hectare. As such, utilizing all available funds will be considered, whether they be national or international, towards these ends,” Barrera stated to the Radio Cooperativa.

At this time and in the most costly way, Conaf asks that visitors to the park respect the camping zones and the indications of park staff. The institution has published a series of recommendations for camping and on how to prevent future disasters on their web page.

More information at: www.conaf.cl

Watch damaged zone

veronica@torresdelpaine.com