Colombian President Deploys Military and Aircraft to Battle Villa de Leyva Wildfire

A massive wildfire has ignited on the San Marcos slope above Villa de Leyva, a colonial tourist hub in Boyaca, Colombia, already consuming about 40 hectares of native forest and sending thick smoke over the town’s central square. President Abelardo de la Espriella posted on X that “Villa de Leyva is not alone,” pledging to marshal every state resource to protect the historic site. The Boyaca department is sending two aerial firefighting aircraft, and a military helicopter will support the effort, while Interior Minister Rodrigo Lara confirmed that Bogotá’s fire brigade, under Mayor Carlos Fernando Galan, will be dispatched to assist crews from Tunja and local Boyaca teams.

The blaze comes amid a dry season intensified by an extreme El Niño event, which has created drought conditions across the equatorial Andes and sparked 18 active wildfires nationwide, according to one outlet Unit for Disaster Risk Management. Scientists, including Stephanie Roe of the World Wildlife Fund, warn that climate-change-driven warming is magnifying El Niño’s heat and dryness, raising the risk of severe fire, flood and landslide events across the region. Authorities are focusing on containing the fire to safeguard the town’s colonial architecture and the tourism economy that relies on more than a million annual visitors.