The Briefing:
- A wildfire that began Saturday afternoon on Villa de Leyva's San Marcos hill has burned close to 290 hectares and remains roughly 50% contained, per Monday's official incident report.
- Colombia's Environment Ministry says preliminary evidence points to the fire being deliberately set; the Attorney General's Office and judicial police are now investigating.
- More than 400 responders and four aircraft are battling the blaze as the municipality declares a public calamity, suspends classes and shelters evacuees in the town's coliseum.
From a Hillside Blaze to a National Emergency
The fire ignited Saturday afternoon in a wooded stretch of San Marcos known as La Marmolera, according to Vanguardia, and within hours smoke columns were visible from the town's main square. Strong winds and steep terrain pushed the flames into an unusually fast, elliptical spread pattern, which fire officials called the most severe blaze in the country at the time.
Air and Ground: How Colombia Is Fighting the Fire
The response has scaled up sharply since Saturday. What began as roughly 200 people on the ground had grown to more than 400 firefighters, soldiers, civil defense workers and volunteers by Monday, Publimetro reported, citing the latest Blu Radio update. Interior Minister Rodrigo Lara said conditions briefly eased Sunday morning, telling reporters "the fire's speed has dropped."
On Sunday alone, four aircraft — operated by the Army, the Air Force and the Boyacá governor's office — made roughly 170 water drops totaling about 240,000 liters (63,000 gallons), Governor Carlos Amaya reported to El Tiempo. One of those aircraft, an Air Force Black Hawk flown in from Tolima, alone released close to 14,000 gallons over the most critical points, the paper separately reported. By the unified command's 6 p.m. Sunday cutoff, the fire had reached roughly 290 hectares and stood at about 50% containment — a toll that had climbed sharply from the roughly 40 hectares first reported earlier that same weekend.
Evacuations, Suspended Classes and a Public Calamity
As flames crept toward populated areas, authorities evacuated hotel guests and residents in the municipality's northeastern sector, suspended in-person classes for Monday and opened the town's coliseum as a shelter for evacuees and responders, Infobae reported. The mayor's office also declared a public calamity, a legal step that frees up emergency funds and resources.
President Abelardo de la Espriella pledged the full weight of the national government, saying: "Villa de Leyva is not alone," according to El Espectador, and vowed every available state resource to protect residents and the town's heritage.
Was the Fire Set on Purpose?
A new thread entered the investigation Sunday: Environment Minister Fabio Arjona said preliminary information from the national disaster-risk agency suggests the fire "may have been deliberately set," though he stressed the finding was unconfirmed. Boyacá's governor said Monday that the Attorney General's Office and judicial police had taken over that line of inquiry. Colombian law provides for roughly two-and-a-half to 15 years in prison for setting fires that endanger forests or ecologically significant land, per the same report.
Part of a Wider Dry-Season Crisis
The fire is unfolding during Colombia's second dry season of the year, intensified by El Niño conditions that have driven a nationwide spike in vegetation fires. As of Monday, the national disaster-risk agency was tracking 27 wildfires total — 19 still active and eight already controlled — across seven departments, with Boyacá joining the list for the first time this cycle alongside Tolima, which continues to register the most active fronts, according to El Espectador. Separately, Cundinamarca has logged 828 vegetation fires and roughly 3,140 scorched hectares across 75 municipalities since January 1 — a year-to-date total that underscores how intense this season has been, per El Tiempo.
For now, the priority on the ground remains keeping the fire out of Villa de Leyva's colonial core — the cobblestone streets and whitewashed façades that draw visitors from across the country. Whether the flames were an accident of a brutal dry season or something else is a question investigators, not firefighters, will have to answer.
