Greenpeace flew over Puerto Patriada, El Hoyo, and Epuyén to document the severe impact of the fires in Chubut.
To date, the fire has already devastated about 30,000 hectares of forests, plantations, grasslands, and homes.
In response, the environmental organization released aerial images showing scorched slopes and areas devastated by the flames.
According to preliminary official reports, since mid-December the main fires in Patagonia have occurred in the province of Chubut.
In Puerto Patriada, El Hoyo, and Epuyén alone, about 15,000 hectares have been affected, with the focus contained in the first two localities.
However, in the Los Alerces National Park the focus remains active and the strong gusts of wind in recent days worsen the outlook. There, more than 12,000 hectares have been reported devoured by the flames.
In El Turbio, meanwhile, an estimated 3,000 hectares are also with the focus contained.
The explosive cocktail of the fires in Chubut portrayed by Greenpeace: drought, heat, and exotic pines
Greenpeace linked the magnitude of the fires in Chubut to extreme weather conditions and factors that increase the risk of spreading.
The organization pointed out four key factors that form a dangerous combination in the face of the flames:
- Prolonged droughts;
- Extreme temperatures;
- Intense winds, and;
- The uncontrolled expansion of exotic pines.
“Continuing to deny or underestimate the effects of the climate crisis, long warned by science and the environmental movement, is a political irresponsibility that is paid with forests and homes,” said Hernán Giardini, coordinator of the Greenpeace Forests campaign.
In response, the NGO cites a report from the Provincial Water Directorate of Río Negro stating that last year in the Cordillera, rainfall decreased by 43%, while snow was 37% below the annual average.
Meanwhile, the National Meteorological Service estimated that in the mountainous area of Chubut, Río Negro, and Neuquén, during the first weeks of January the temperature was seven degrees above the average.
In 2025, satellite processing by Greenpeace estimated that the area of Andean-Patagonian forest affected last summer by fires was nearly 32,000 hectares.
Thus, the burned area quadrupled compared to the previous season.
In this way, due to its enormous magnitude and impact, the fires in Chubut and Patagonia are considered the worst environmental disasters of the last three decades in the region, according to Greenpeace.
What Greenpeace demands to prevent new disasters
The environmental organization insisted on a concrete request to seriously address the effects of the climate crisis. The demands include:
- More prevention and controls on risk areas
- Reinforcement of brigades for quick response
- Greater availability of water bombers to attack initial outbreaks
- Eradication of exotic plantations in critical areas
- Penalize forest destruction, both by fires and deforestation
Workers from the National Parks Administration reported that they only have 400 brigades, when the minimum should be 700, to cover 5 million hectares under their jurisdiction and to assist the provinces when called upon.
“What Chubut is experiencing with the fires is a forewarned ecocide. Thousands of hectares of burned forests that will take more than one hundred years to restore,” said Giardini.
“The forest does not burn by itself. It burns when budgets are cut, when looking the other way, when human responsibility in the climate crisis and its consequences is denied.”
A joint report by environmental organizations warned that these large fires are not isolated or merely natural phenomena.
In reality, it points out, they are the result of structural human decisions and a deficient state response to the growing climate crisis.
Today, it is estimated that 95% of forest fires are caused by human actions, whether intentional, negligent, or accidental due to campfires, barbecues, and cigarette butts not properly extinguished, the preparation of grazing areas with fire, and the burning of forest waste.
The images of the fires in Chubut released by Greenpeace showed green tones of the Chubut mountain range cut by large gray and brown patches.
Thus, it is seen how the trail of the fire left entire slopes scorched, black stripes advancing like scars, and areas where the forest became an uneven drawing, ravaged by zones.
