Vast fires sweep across Bolivia as well as Brazil

LA PAZ, Bolivia — While global attention has been focused on fires burning across the Brazilian Amazon, neighboring Bolivia is battling its own vast blazes, which have charred an area nearly as extensive as the nation of Lebanon.

The head of the national forests and lands authority says at least 38,793 fires were burning across the country as of the weekend, and a total of 3,700 square miles (950,000 hectares) had been burned so far this year — most of that in weeks.

While some of the fires are burning in Bolivia's share of the Amazon, the largest blazes were in the Chiquitanía region of southeastern Bolivia. It's zone of dry forest, farmland and open prairies that has seen an expansion of farming and ranching in recent years.

AP