Firefighters battled five blazes on the outskirts of Ecuador's capital Quito on Wednesday, as wildfires continue to rip through South American nations turned into tinderboxes by droughts linked to climate change. Some 2,000 firefighters, military personnel and rescue workers have been deployed in Quito to try to contain the blazes and bring residents in affected areas to safety. So far at least six people have been injured including two children and two firefighters, and around 100 families evacuated from their homes. From Ecuador to Brazil, many Latin American nations are gripped by their worst drought in decades, fueling a blistering fire season that has set residents and governments on edge. "Quito is under attack," the city's security chief Carolina Andrade told reporters. Authorities in Ecuador believe that a fire that broke out Tuesday in the east of the city and swathed it in huge plumes of smoke was started by arsonists. On Wednesday, they announced the arrest of a 19-year-old man caught with a gallon of fuel. Pablo Munoz, Quito's mayor, vowed Wednesday to hunt down the perpetrators of the "terrorist" fires. The emergency led President Daniel Noboa to cancel his speech at the UN General Assembly and return home from New York on Tuesday. Schools suspended classes and government offices ordered remote work due to poor air quality in the city of around three million people. "I wanted to save something, but we didn't get anything," said Alexis Condolo, a 23-year-old mechanic whose home burned down. "We found the house in ashes. We lost everything. We only have a few clothes left." Because of the smoke, "I had to sleep with a mask and wet wipes on top" of the mask, Claudio Otalima, an 82-year-old retiree, told AFP. Quito has been battling forest fires for three weeks. In Brazil, fires have consumed millions of acres (hectares) of forest and farmland in recent weeks, and... |