Lázaro Cárdenas, Q.R. — Kantunilkín firemen were busy fighting a large weed fire off a municipal highway Thursday. The fire, which was intentionally set on a nearby ranch, spread fast due to winds.
Firemen were called in Thursday afternoon when the flames grew out of control and posed a threat to nearby infrastructure. More than an hectare was consumed and one business threatened due to the fire.
Firemen from the Lázaro Cárdenas Municipal Fire Department were notified of the out-of-control fire around 5:30 p.m. on the Kantunilkín -Chiquilá highway.
It was at Kilometer 1 where firefighters found flames devouring extremely dry roadside weeds. By the time they arrived, the fire had already reached a corral and fence that separates the ranch from a resort on the outskirt of town.
Resort staff and onlookers had begun the task of trying to put out the fire themselves, but to no avail. In assistance to firemen, Civil Protection personnel smothered burning logs and smoldering trash near the resort to prevent the flames from reigniting due to the winds.
Firefighter Coordinator José Gaspar Iuit Cauich reported that after the 5:30 p.m. report, they responded with the fire truck. Fortunately, only one and a half hectares of grass and weeds were consumed. Minor structural damage was reported to a fence between the ranch that started the fire and the resort on the opposite side.
According to José Gaspar Iuit Cauich, the ranch owner had already been warned about burning brush after firemen responded to another fire he started earlier that day.
Firemen had already paid him a visit that same morning after receiving a report of burning brush that appeared to be spreading. The same Kantunilkín fire team were at his home early Thursday morning where they extinguished a fire that had spread around his property.
According to José Gaspar Iuit Cauich, they left the ranch home around 11:00 a.m. and were called again at 5:30 p.m. after the same rancher set a second fire.
The Fire Department Coordinator said it will be up to the person leasing the resort to file a complaint against the ranch for damage suffered to their property due to his intentionally set fires. He did not comment on the possibility fines against the rancher.
