In the heart of the Los Sauces commune, an intense season of forest fires came to an end. It began in November and ended on the last day of March with 368 hectares of the company affected and 13 forest fires that affected 20 properties of Bosques Cautín, incidents that were fought by the brigade members who, in addition, attended 14 fire threats.
At the meeting, the brigade members mutually recognized their work and commitment to attend to emergencies and help the affected community, also valuing the close relationships they managed to establish between themselves and with the Cautín protection team.
The Sustainability Manager of Bosques Cautín, Luis Alfaro, pointed out that “for us, the most relevant thing today is to celebrate that we are all together, healthy and alive. (…) Self-care and care for our families are essential, as well as for our neighbors. We help all those people adjacent to our assets to help them protect their homes,” emphasizing the company’s commitment to the community.
Dagoberto Ancamilla, one of the firefighters, confirmed what Luis Alfaro said, saying that “when there is a fire that puts a house at risk, we have to go there to save lives and houses, as much as we can. The forests are secondary when there are people at risk,” he added.
PLANNING AND TEAMWORK
The teamwork begins from the operations center, coordinated by Carlos Velásquez and Jonathan Beltrán, who guided the team in the field through a meticulous analysis of the behavior of the emergency. Jonathan, the person in charge of the Protection Center, said that “we are not an instruction point, but we are a support arm. We are one of them within the fires, we want to generate confidence and indicate the places where we can be and fight fires in the safest way.”
The two brigades of first attack on the ground, called “Bravo Bravo 1” and “Bravo Bravo 2”, had 4×4 trucks equipped with water tanks with a capacity of up to 350 liters, with a system of motor pumps and hoses. Edison Ancamilla, head of the southern brigade, described this season as “successful because of the work, organization and planning that took place between the teams on the ground and those who managed the people, it was a good coordination of teams.”
A WOMAN IN CHARGE OF THE TEAM
Despite describing this summer period as very complex, Nilsen Ancamilla, who is the mother of two girls and for the second time is in charge of the “Bravo Bravo 1” and “Bravo Bravo 2” brigades of Cautín, expressed her participation as “a beautiful experience to represent the female gender, whatever it is we are contributing a grain of sand to society. (…) There is physical wear and tear on resources, but there are positive fruits and people value it.”
The Sustainability Manager reaffirms that “it is very important for a woman to lead this source of work, which is said to be sexist, but over time it has been changing. Nilsen is also a Mapuche leader in her community in Traiguén, so she knows clearly about the care of her people.”
Bosques Cautín participates in the Society for the Protection of La Araucanía to establish a joint work with different entities in an unprecedented collaboration at the national level to fight forest fires. At the same time, there is coordination with forestry companies in the area to contribute to the well-being of the community and the region.
