The Diplomat
The Ministry of Defense, through the Military Emergency Unit (UME), has sent fifty soldiers to Chile to collaborate in the fight against the forest fires that the Andean country is suffering.
Yesterday arrived at the airport of Santiago de Chile the contingent of the UME that will collaborate in the extinction of fires. According to the Consulate General of Spain in the capital, the soldiers were received by the Spanish Ambassador, Rafael Garranzo, and the Chilean Minister of the Interior, Carolina Tohá. In this regard, the Chilean Embassy in Madrid emphasized that the Spanish military are among “the first to arrive and offer all their help in one of the most serious fires to hit our country”.
According to the Ministry of Defense, the 50 military personnel arrived aboard an Airbus of the Air Force to provide support to the authorities, the Army, firefighters and brigade members in extinguishing the forest fires. “In less than 24 hours, our Armed Forces have responded to the international request to help in the fight against the fires that are punishing the country,” the Ministry assured. For its part, the EMU reported via Twitter the arrival in Chile of some of its forest firefighting experts “to support our friends from CONAF,” Chile’s National Forestry Corporation, “in these difficult moments.”
The EU has activated the European Civil Protection Mechanism and the EU High Representative, Josep Borrell, spoke yesterday with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Antonia Urrejola, to convey his “solidarity in the face of the devastating fires ravaging Chile”. Chilean authorities have arrested at least ten people for their alleged responsibility in the wave of fires, which have caused at least 24 deaths and affected 270,000 hectares. It is estimated that there are more than 260 active fires.
