Local media believed the extreme weather conditions of historic drought, high temperatures, and strong winds severely complicated the work of the firefighters and favored the fire's advance toward populated areas, the newspaper Jornada reports.

The newspaper quotes the lament of Chubut's Secretary of Forests, Abel Nievas, as he describes the impact of the blaze as "the worst environmental tragedy in 20 years" in that province, where the flames have consumed some 7,000 hectares of native forest.

In Australia, the Bureau of Meteorology has issued a heat wave warning at an extreme level for the states of New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, and Tasmania in early January.

One of the most destructive bushfires in early January ripped through almost 150,000 hectares near Longwood, a region cloaked in native forests.