'The last straw': gang-plagued Ecuador now fighting record fires

Ecuador's capital Quito, already reeling from a spate of horrific gang violence, is now fighting fires with limited water amid the country's worst drought in six decades.

"It feels like punishment," said 56-year-old Fernando Muirragui, whose house barely escaped the flames authorities believe were the work of arsonists.

The misery just "seems to pile up," Rolando Marcillo, a 60-year-old carpenter in the fire-hit Bellavista neighborhood complained, calling the fires "the last straw."

Ecuador is one of several South American nations battling record wildfires that have consumed millions of hectares amid one of the most severe droughts in years, linked by experts to climate change.

The Andean country has received almost no rain for nearly three months, making it tinder-dry.

So far this year it has recorded 3,300 forest fires that have destroyed nearly 38,000 hectares of vegetation.

Quito, a city of around three million people situated at a vertiginous 9,350 feet (2,850 meters), has been battling blazes for three weeks.

Five new fires broke out simultaneously Tuesday on the capital's eastern outskirts, some of which were still burning a day later despite the efforts of about 2,000 firefighters, soldiers, and rescuers.

One man has been arrested on suspicion of deliberately starting one of the fires.

Six people have been injured and about 100 families moved to safety as residents tried to save their homes with buckets of water carted sometimes over long distances.

- Losing money -

The fires could not have come at a worse time, with 20 of Ecuador's 24 provinces on "red alert" due to drought.

The country, which relies heavily on hydroelectric power, is facing severe energy shortages and has introduced rolling blackouts of up to 12 hours a day, while drinking water is in ever shorter supply.

The business sector has estimated its losses at about $12 million per hour of power lost.

"We are losing money because we cannot sell cold products like beverages even as the heat has increased demand," grocery store owner Ana Topon, 77, told AFP.

"We are ordering fewer perishable products like meat, which now cannot be stored due to the risk of spoilage" with fridges and freezers more offline than on.

With farmers battling to keep thirsty crops and livestock alive, consumers are starting to feel the sting of price increases.

"Everything is going up because of the drought," said 59-year-old homemaker Consuelo, who did not want to give her surname.

"A bag of vegetables still costs a dollar, but it comes with fewer tomatoes, fewer onions, fewer peppers, and the vendors think we don't notice."

About 40,000 hectares of crops have been affected by drought and fire, according to Agriculture Minister Danilo Palacios.

- 'Criminals take advantage' -

Quito residents are navigating a perfect storm of crises.

Apart from the food shortages, rising prices and flames, they also live in fear of armed gangs looking to exploit the chaos.

The once peaceful country of 17 million inhabitants has seen its homicide rate increase eightfold in five years as gangs vying for control of the drug trade wage war with the state.

The lawlessness has been concentrated in prisons and port areas, but has also reached Quito, where several clashes have been reported in recent days.

A shooting at a hair salon killed five people last Friday.

Muirragui, whose home was nearly consumed by flames on Tuesday, said the rise in criminal activity made people loathe to evacuate their properties.

"You can't leave things unattended because criminals take advantage of your absence to steal," he said.