Ecobreves – VENEZUELA: Double Blow – Fires and Water Rationing

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CARACAS, Feb 15 2010 (IPS) - Several regions in Venezuela are enduring forest and brush fires linked to the drought that began last year, and which forced rationing of water supplies in Caracas and other cities, and of electricity across the province. Several regions in Venezuela are enduring forest and brush fires linked to the drought that began last year, and which forced rationing of water supplies in Caracas and other cities, and of electricity across the province.

“Ciudad Guayana suffered 358 brush fires in January alone,” Edgar Albornoz, director of firefighting in that industrial center, 500 km southeast of the capital, told Tierramérica. The nearby hydroelectric dams on the Caroní River supply 70 percent of the electricity consumed in Venezuela.

Another firefighting chief, José Sabino, of the southwestern state of Mérida, said that in his province this year “there were 482 fires – forest and brush – reported by the first week of February.”