The forest fire season in Yucatán ends with three thousand hectares affected

With 2,000 fire-related incidents, the fire season has come to a close, reported Enrique Alcocer Basto, director of Civil Protection in Yucatán, who assured that everything was “under control” and without major consequences.

The cases attended to included fires at roadside areas and in garbage, as well as 80 agricultural fires; only 14 were classified as forest fires. “Thanks to timely intervention, we are coming out of a season that did not bring major effects. This time, we had a fire season under control. However, we will hold a meeting with other agencies to compare figures and have accurate data,” he commented. The affected hectares totaled 3,000, but “areas like landfills need to be excluded because they do not cause ecological damage.”

Regarding the causes, he mentioned that fires were started by burning garbage, household negligence, and cigarette butts. Although agricultural burning “has a bad reputation,” it was not the most serious cause.

He said that now that the fire season has ended, they are focusing on the hurricane season. He also mentioned that the state civil protection council has already been established, and the network of temporary shelters has been reviewed. In other words, the agencies are prepared.

It is worth noting that yesterday, the First Ordinary Session of the State Civil Protection Council for 2023 was held, declaring Yucatán prepared with the full commitment of all its members, including civil society and the Armed Forces and security forces, for the 2023 hurricane season that began on June 1st for the Atlantic and the Caribbean.

As the executive secretary and technical head of the Yucatán State Civil Protection Council, Alcocer Basto announced the preventive measures and operational actions to be carried out by the State Government to face the 2023 Hurricane Season.

As part of the preparation work, the official highlighted the previous regional meetings held in Motul, Tizimín, Valladolid, Tekax, and Mérida before the start of this year’s tropical cyclone season. These meetings involved municipal agencies, armed forces, and civil society organizations.

During the meeting held at the Great Museum of the Maya World, he recalled that during the 2022 tropical cyclone season, it was not necessary to access the resources of the Emergency and Disaster Assistance Fund, which, he said, has been recovering.

Regarding strategic preventive actions, Alcocer Basto announced the organization of the 2nd Congress of Hurricane Preparedness on June 19th. This event will be added to previous activities such as the First National Simulation Exercise 2023, the arrival of the hurricane hunting plane, and the National Civil Protection Fair held on April 19th, 17th, and 24th, respectively.

TYT Newsroom