Around 500 firefighters have been deployed to Argentina’s southern province of Chubut to battle renewed flare-ups of wildfires that have burned over 30,000 hectares of forest since December.
Another 170 firefighters are working to contain flames in Puerto Patriada, near the Chilean border, where fires that broke out in early January have scorched more than 22,000 hectares.
Investigators confirmed the presence of flammable gases at the ignition point of the blaze.
Authorities also reported several additional fire hotspots elsewhere in the province of Chubut, near the town of Cholila, most of which are now under control.
