Ecuador declares national emergency as wildfires, drought intensify

QUITO (Reuters) -Ecuador's government declared a 60-day national emergency due to raging forest fires made worse by a severe drought, risk management officials said on Monday.

The South American country faces 13 active wildfires and another nine that have been controlled, according to an update from the government's communications office.

"The whole country is suffering the ravages of this great drought that has already lasted almost 120 days," Risk Management Secretary Jorge Carrillo told local radio broadcaster FM Mundo.

He said it is crucial to use aerial support to fight the wildfires as the areas are rugged and in some cases it takes firefighters three hours to reach fires by land.

In the most-affected provinces, Azuay and Loja, the flames have consumed more than 10,000 hectares (24,700 acres).

The emergency decree comes as Ecuador struggles with an energy crisis that has led to power outages of up to 14 hours a day in recent months.

(Reporting by Alejandra Valencia, Additional reporting by Aida Pelaez-Fernandez; Editing by David Alire Garcia and Rod Nickel)