Chetumal, Q.R. — The government of Quintana Roo has made an official request for all residents to stop setting intentional burns, noting that they have already tended to 32 fires that have consumed more than 3,780 hectares of forest.
On Sunday, state governor Carlos Joaquín made the request along with the head of Ecology and Environment, Alfredo Arellano Guillermo after a meeting with authorities from the National Forest Commission, National Commission of Protected Natural Areas, city councils and Civil Protection.
During the meeting, they analyzed the number of increasing fires due to agricultural burns that get out of control, causing ecological deterioration in state jungles. Due to the extreme dryness around the state, combined with high temperatures of between 35 and 40C and frequent wind gusts, authorities have requested people suspend agricultural burning in the entire territory of Quintana Roo in the coming months, according Article 18 of the Law of Burning and Prevention of Forest Fires in the state.