In the afternoon of August 25, a fire has again started along the national road N°118 ,which borders Tata Cua forest, in our other neighbour’s farm called Vacca Moretti. Unfortunately, the departure of this fire could not be detected fast enough by our neighbor and the fire quickly spread to our forest, pushed by hot air (34°C registered on this day) and wind.

The fire reached then plots of our forest planted with eucalyptus. The youngest eucalyptus trees have exacerbated the fire. Their sap is flammable, and so is their bark, which flies off when burned, igniting new fires in the pine trees sections of our forest.

Firefighters’ and our farm personal were fighting against the fire during 48 hours, non stop, to contain it. As a result, 630 ha of our tree plantation were affected in various stages. Some equipments have burned like our solar water pump and a lot of fences. Luckily, nobody was injured and thanks to the efforts of the staff, the fire could be contained before reaching silage storage facilities and cattle area.

Preliminary investigations and evidence indicate that the origin of the fires is most likely accidental (discarded cigarette end). We have started to evacuate the spoils and replace destroyed fences.

Pine trees plantations, which account for 77% of the area affected, seem to have been the most resilient to flame as their thick bark does not catch fire or burn easily. It also protects the inside of the trunk, the living tissues that transport water and nutrients, from heat damage. Pine trees also drop lower branches as the trees grow older, which helps prevent fire from climbing up and burning the green needles higher up the tree. Eucalyptus and pine trees utilize also tall crowns in order to keep flammable leaves and dead branches high from the ground and away from fire.

Fire can destroy the cambium (tissue between the wood and the bark that actually grows to form wood in trees) over a part of the tree trunk surface without necessarily killing the tree. The consequences for the tree are then proportional to the height of the charred trunk. Furthermore, both species of our trees affected have a high capacity to regenerate.

We are going to analyse each woodlot with our forest experts to valuate the damage to the trees and actions to be undertaken. We will have to treat the trees against parasites attacks, which rapidly colonize the area covered by the fire, as well as against root pathogens as fire favored them.

source: NASA FIRMS

Wind, drought, high temperatures, an explosive combo: This fire was not an isolate event as 300 others have occurred in our close area (Article from El Litoral dated 11/08/20) and from a national perspective, 11 provinces are currently hit by fires and so far over 120,000 hectares on farmland have burned (Article from Infobae dated 26/08/20).