3,100 hectares of forest were destroyed by forest fires that have been raging across Colombia for the past few weeks, the country’s government announced.
The national government last week declared the fires a national disaster, and was promised help by the United States to fight the ongoing fires, which so far have cost no human lives.
According to the Interior and Justice Ministry, firefighters have extinguished wildfires in 99 municipalities in twelve of the country’s 32 departments.
For months, authorities have warned of wildfires as Colombia is going through an unusually hot dry season and only had a very short rainy season in 2009. Water supplies are down and forests in many parts of the country are drier than usual.