U.S. forestry experts visit Yucatan to share firefighting knowledge

From April 17 to 29, eight technicians from the United States Forest Service USFS will visit the Yucatan Peninsula in order to conduct supervision of the Incident Management Teams (Equipos de Manejo de Incendios, EMI, in Spanish), used to combat forest fires, this was announced by the manager State government of the National Forest Commission (Conafor), Alonso Pacheco Ucán.

In an interview the head of the Conafor in Campeche reported that the field observation will be carried out in a forest fire, due to its complexity, in the southeast region, and that this international activity forms part of the agreement between the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the USFS, the National Commission of Protected Natural Areas (Conanp) and Conafor, which allows the exchange of knowledge between agencies and a better training for the use of equipment.

He specified that this work program is the result of the efforts made by President Peña Nieto, in order for firefighters and EMI to be able to develop operational capacities at the time of giving attention to a forest fire, which allows good results at the moment of preserving life, material goods and the environment.

He said that the practice will be coordinated by the Southeast Regional Center for Fire and will be supervised by the Conafor Fire Manager, Alfredo Nolasco Morales, who welcomed the 8 USFS technicians, at April 17 in Merida, Yucatan. The forest fire situation will then be analyzed in the states of Yucatan, Campeche and Quintana Roo, to define the place where they will activate the Regional Incident Management Team (ERMI).

Source: expresocampeche.com