OXKUTZCAB Yucatan (TYT). – Agents of Yucatan Civil Protection based in Tekax in coordination with municipal brigaders, after almost two days, managed to control a major forest fire on the side of the Oxkutzcab-Loltún road that has affected an area of about 200 hectares (495 acres).
Part of the fire was controlled with a technique called “counterfire” and the area that is still active is no longer dangerous, however, the firefighters will continue to monitor the area.
The fire brigades managed to control a sector of the fire that endangered the facilities of the state high school No. 9. They began at 6 a.m. on Sunday April 21, and finally got it under control on Monday 22 around 2 a.m. By then, the fire had consumed 1,000 hectares (2,471.05 acres) of the land reserve, of which more than 200 hectares (495 acres) consisted of grasslands and open vegetation.
In Ticul, the authorities of the Municipal Units of Civil Protection reported that, one week after the end of the month of restriction of agricultural burns, the balance of forest fires in the region is alarming, until Monday April 22nd, the flames had consumed approximately 150 hectares (371 acres), mainly of pasture, affecting ranches and agricultural production units.
The forest at both sides of the roads to Muna, Santa Elena, Chapab and Sacalum have been scorched due to the numerous fires that have been registered. Also, most of the trees on the hills of Muna were reduced to ashes by several recent burnings.
Yesterday morning there was another large fire on the hills between Ticul and Dzan, the column of smoke could be seen from miles away. Several Civil Protection brigades from the region and firefighters from the SSP had to go there as an emergency.
Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) image of the Yucatan Peninsula in southern Mexico shows widespread biomass burning (red dots) and smoke across southern Mexico. the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired a true-color image of smoke and haze over the Yucatan Peninsula. Each red hot spot marks an area where the thermal bands on the instrument detected hot temperatures. When combined with typical smoke, as in this image, such hot spots are diagnostic for actively burning fire. Fires burn across the entire Yucatan Peninsula, and there are many. According to Global Fire Watch, from April 4 – 11, there were 2,838 fire alerts in Campeche, 991 in Quintana Roo, 1,701 in Yucatan, and 893 in Belize. Source: https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov
The director of Civil Protection, Sosa Medina said: “The places that have been most affected by the fires are Oxkutzcab and Tekax, where the flames have consumed hundreds of hectares and in fact there are fires that are still active”.
On Saturday April 20, there was also a fire that burned more than 20 hectares in the hill by the old road leading to the community of Xaya (municipality of Tekax), where the intervention of several fire brigades was also requested to control the emergency.
Tekax at the top of the list in wildfires
The authorities consider that this year in Tekax the fires have consumed significantly more land than in previous years, reaching almost 2,000 hectares (4,943 acres). “Worst of all, a year of drought is predicted, that means more wildfires and usually hurricanes,”(SIC) said Juan Manuel Orozco, owner of a ranch in Tekax, currently affected by the fire.
The Yucatan Times
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