Michel De L’Herbean expert in emergency management, called on the State as a whole to modernize the strategy soon to face disasters such as forest fires that hit the Valparaíso Region from this Friday.
«These fire sources that generate great damage have a characteristic that has been known for more than a decade in Chile and the world: they are associated with extreme climate, high temperatures, in the case of Chile also with a prolonged drought, high availability fuel, and Regardless of the reason why they arise, they must be stopped quickly«he emphasized in Cooperative.
For the specialist, «we have been very slow in the change we need to make; A concrete example is that to date, we do not have and night air combat team is not hired (…) and fires under extreme weather conditions continue to spread very quickly and aggressively. Therefore, the probability that all the work that has been done during the day will be lost overnight is increasingly higher.»
«It is worth asking: Why don’t we strengthen the muscles more quickly in aircraft that range between 10,000 and 8,000 liters? They are heavy, versatile, flexible in their operation, precise and forceful aircraft,» he said, questioning that «change is not made despite the tragic results».
Along the same lines, he pointed out «why are we continuing with last year’s controversy that the kits for the C-130 have not been purchased? They were promised politically, and they are to temporarily transform aircraft for fighting forest fires and with to discharge 10 thousand liters. Why hasn’t the capacity of leased aircraft been increased?«.
«From my point of view at least, the evidence shows that There is a very important resistance in the State«De L’Herbe warned.