Ecuador Fires Threaten Wealthy Areas, Force President to Return Home

Wealthy neighborhoods in Quito remain under threat of flames, and schools have shifted to online teaching through the end of the week as firefighters battle forest fires in Ecuador’s capital.

Quito Mayor Pabel Muñoz of the left-wing Citizen Revolution party declared an emergency for the city of almost 3 million residents to obtain additional funding to tackle more than two dozen blazes since Tuesday, almost of all of them set intentionally.

Police detained a male, 19-year-old suspected arsonist after flames forced firefighters and government ministers to abandon a command post near a highway. Two hundred firefighters from seven local governments and 180 soldiers are working to contain the fires, while 1,600 police are keeping the peace.

President Daniel Noboa canceled his planned speech before the United Nations General Assembly in New York to return home and manage the crisis. An extended drought is also threatening agriculture in Ecuador and has prompted rolling blackouts nationwide.

“We’re experiencing the worst climate situation in decades, which calls for urgent decisions at all levels of government,” Noboa said late Tuesday in a post on X. “Adversity will find us more determined than ever.”

Resurgent flames near the colonial neighborhood of Guapulo — where Noboa rents a mansion — led to a major highway and tunnel being closed again Wednesday, blocking direct access between north-central Quito and its eastern suburbs. Nearby homes are being evacuated.

Air force helicopters outfitted with suspended buckets are flying between a low-lying reservoir and burning wooded mountain slopes that separate downtown from the valley a steep 400 meters below.

While no deaths have been reported, the flames destroyed several homes in the Guapulo and Bellavista neighborhoods. Six firefighters and five civilians including an infant have been injured, newspaper Expreso reported. The health ministry reported 44 people treated and released for smoke inhalation.

Volunteers flocked to support firefighters while neighborhood and animal welfare organizations worked to coordinate aid for people, pets and both feral and wild animals affected by the fires. Aid agencies and municipal offices called for water, eye drops, industrial-strength gloves and other help for firefighters and people evacuated from their homes.

While the interior ministry ordered large-scale events canceled, the prosecutor general’s office said it would investigate the causes of the blazes. Beyond the suspect arrested Wednesday, other individuals in recent days were found to have set fires in other parts of the capital’s metropolitan area.

Photograph: Smoke from a wildfire plumes above Quito, Ecuador, on Sept. 24, 2024. Photo credit: Galo Paguay/AFP/Getty Images