Patagonia’s fires reveal climate strain, budget cuts, and pine monoculture

Patagonia and southern Chile are being ravaged by wildfires fueled by hotter, drier conditions and a shift to highly flammable foreign pine monocultures; Argentina’s Milei government has slashed the National Fire Management Service, reducing prevention, aerial support, and firefighters’ pay, prompting communities to form their own brigades. While investigators note accelerants in some blazes, conspiracy theories blaming Mapuche or other actors have circulated; the fires threaten biodiversity and local livelihoods, with long-term damage likely even if some trees survive.