In statements to the pressthe director of the Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies (Ideam), Ghisliane Echeverry Prieto, explained that at this moment Colombia is “in the dry season, which is usual for these months.”
However, the El Niño phenomenon has caused “it to be a drier season than usual,” he noted, which, added to the high temperatures, causes hot spots “that generate threats from forest fires.”
By midday yesterday, Echeverry indicated, the Ideam had counted more than 900 municipalities “threatened by forest fires. “This is almost the entire country.”