Cancun, Q.R. — Cancun firemen have attended to more than 300 fires around the city during the last three weeks. A majority of the fires they attend to are urban fires due to human negligence.
Aquileo Cervantes Álvarez, the Director of the Cancun Fire Department, says they have responded to 337 fires in three weeks. Only three of those were house fires. According to Cervantes Álvarez, over the Easter holidays, they put out 217 fires during that week alone.
He reported that most of the fires are concentrated in the irregular neighborhoods in urban areas of the city which have been due to human negligence. He says the start of the urban fires are related to people burning garbage without considering the risk of the fire spreading.
“During Semana Santa we had a lot of activity with 217 fires reported involving garbage and green areas. We are continuing with reports of around 120 more fires this week. In some ways, they’ve increased, not significantly, but ultimately, we’re still responding to fires involving green areas and garbage,” he explained.
He says the current extreme temperatures and lack of rain creates a greater chance for fires to spread. Aside from garbage burning, Cervantes Álvarez says they have attended to fires started by discarded cigarette butts and the “magnifying glass effect” caused by glass bottles and the sun.
The Cancun Fire Department has 175 personnel and 22 units to deal with the city’s fires.
