 During the early morning
hours of February the 13th, 2002, Fabiana Flores, regional director of
disaster and emergency management services in Calama, arrived near the
village of Nueva Alemania to respond to calls of local residents that
reported fire and smoke coming out of the ground.
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- The local residents could not explain how the ground
was collapsing and forming holes with fire and smoke. Under pressure from
the local newspaper "La Estrella del Loa", the authorities and
experts responded quickly in an effort to determine the cause of such
strange phenomenon.
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- Upon arriving, the authorities, experts, and local reporters
were able to see the smoke and small fires dispersed throughout a 200-meter
area. Emergency management director Fabiana Flores admitted she was puzzled
by the phenomenon. The fires were amazingly close to some homes; therefore,
they began investigating if there was a threat to residents. The authorities
advised residents to keep the children away from the hazardous area and
to exercise caution.
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- After a visual inspection, the emergency management
director stated that the cause of the fire it could have been underground
organic matter because the area used to be swamp. Local geologists added
that underground organic matter could have ignited due to a mixture of
gases. They stated that in that area, there are some water deposits underground
 that could have mixed
with organic matter, creating different types of flammable gases and vapors.
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- The authorities formed an investigative commission within
15 hours. The commission included director Fabiana Flores, Mario Zapata,
local geologist Hector Veliz, regional agriculture director Hibert Martinez,
environmental and hygiene director Lucas Burchard, fire department director
Juan Martin, and local Chilean Customs chief Fernando Campusano. After
visiting the area, the group made a press conference in the offices of
the Department of Interior.
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- During the investigation, members of the commission
determined that an underground layer of dry vegetation caused the fire.
They also announced that due to small amounts of oxygen underground, the
fire does not pose a serious threat as long as residents exercise caution.
Furthermore, they assured residents that the fires are not being caused
by volcanic activity.
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- According to estimates, the underground fire is covering
an area of approximately 30 meters in diameter and not more than 50 meters
deep. The gases that provoke the underground combustions are natural and
will not harm nearby residents. Nevertheless, director Fabiana Flores
has ordered the fire department and city officials to begin using heavy
equipment to excavate in the area in order to put fire out. After the
dry vegetation layer is exposed, the firemen will flood it with water.
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- Assistant emergency management director Mario Zapata
asked for the community to abstain from going to the place, especially
young children because the ground very soft and unstable. He also did
not discard the possibility of installing a temporary security facility;
the local authorities would have to establish an agreement with CODELCO,
the Chilean mining company that owns the property.
JAIME FERRER VISITED THE SITE
-
 After reading the newspaper
article, and considering the proximity of this place, I decided to visit
the site and see this phenomenon for myself. I took a camera and managed
to take some pictures. I'm trying to get the pictures analyzed because
there are some anomalies that I am not able to explain.
- As I arrived, the first thing I saw was the smoke. Nevertheless,
as I got a little closer, I noticed that the area where the fires are
is not 30 meters in diameter; it's closer to 60 meters in diameter. The
ground also appears to be sinking and creating a huge crater.
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- The place was very dangerous; I had to be very careful
as I walked there. One local villager got his foot stuck in the ground;
he thought he was going to sink into the underground fire.
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-
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The presence of an underground fire is very evident; there is a strong
scent of sulfur and burned grass in the air. The most interesting thing
that I saw happened when one of the villagers decided to remove and pick
up some live coals. I approached the spot and decided to take one more
a photo.
Among all the smoke, I was able to capture what appeared to be some orbs
or small spheres coming out of the burning ground. This was in broad daylight,
so there was no light bulb causing any reflection on the camera lens.
Nevertheless, to avoid any confusion and in order to verify the image
on the picture, I'm having it analyzed by some colleagues.
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- Greetings from Calama Chile,
Jaime Ferrer R. Calama
UFO Center
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