Ecuador Capital ‘Under Attack’ From Five Wildfires

AFP/APP

Quito: Firefighters battled five blazes on the outskirts of Ecuador’s capital Quito on Wednesday, as wildfires continue to rip through South American nations turned into tinderboxes by droughts linked to climate change.

Some 2,000 firefighters, military personnel and rescue workers have been deployed in Quito to try to contain the blazes and bring residents in affected areas to safety.

So far at least six people have been injured including two children and two firefighters, and around 100 families evacuated from their homes.

From Ecuador to Brazil, many Latin American nations are gripped by their worst drought in decades, fueling a blistering fire season that has set residents and governments on edge.

“Quito is under attack,” the city’s security chief Carolina Andrade told reporters.

Authorities in Ecuador believe that a fire that broke out Tuesday in the east of the city and swathed it in huge plumes of smoke was started by arsonists.

On Wednesday, they announced the arrest of a 19-year-old man caught with a gallon of fuel.