Easter Week: Several forest fires are recorded

Santo Domingo – Units of the forest fire department of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (MMARN) have fought around 55 forest fires registered during Holy Week in various parts of the national geography, mostly caused by the practice of “conuquismo.”

The Ministry of the Environment reminded the population, especially farmers, that the country is in the dry season, so precautions should be taken to avoid the occurrence of fires which have such a negative impact on the forests and the biodiversity of the country.

Gerónimo Abreu, director of the National Fire Management Program, cited among the places where forest fires have occurred the Sierra de Bahoruco, Sierra de Neyba, Cordillera Central, in the area between Santiago Rodríguez and San José de las Matas, Constanza, Tireo and Villa Altagracia, in most cases those responsible for starting the fires have been identified, all doing agricultural work.

“In the Sierra de Bahoruco today we are liquidating a fire that started in Haitian territory and affected some 1,800 tareas of pine forest on the Dominican Republic side,” explained Abreu.

Referring to the case of Sierra de Neyba, he indicated that, on the southern slope, in the provinces of Independencia and Bahoruco, there have been six fires during Holy Week, which affected about 2,500 tareas, part of them covered by young plantations carried out by the Agroforestry Development projects.

“In the northern part, of the Sierra de Neyba itself, the fires originated and fought this week have been eight, especially in Hondo Valle, Elías Piña and San Juan, where we have fought about seven forest fires that affected approximately 4,000 tareas, a large part of them of natural forest, part of plantations, scrubland and pasture.”

On the southern slopes of the Central Mountain Range, said Abreu, the areas of greatest activity were in the provinces of Azua and San Juan, where 11 forest fires were fought, affecting approximately 5,000 tareas, most of which were covered with pasture and scrub, in some cases with natural forest and plantations.

“In the province of Elías Piña, especially in the Joca river basin, there have been many burnings of land dedicated to agriculture, but which have also affected natural forests. On the northern slope of the Central Cordillera, in the area of Restauración and Dajabón, we fought 9 fires that affected pastures, natural forest and plantations an average of 4,500 tareas” he said.

He said that in the area between Santiago Rodríguez and San José de las Matas, the forest firefighters attended four (4) fires that affected about 1,300 tareas covered with natural forest and pasture, in that area the main cause is the slash and burn for livestock, while in the southern part it is for agriculture.

In Constanza, another 4 fires were extinguished, affecting 110 tareas of plantations and natural forest.

In Monseñor Nouel 3 fires were fought, while in Villa Altagracia 2 fires, the latter affected about 400 tareas.

“In most cases, those responsible for starting the fires have been identified, all of them doing agricultural work. Some have been arrested,” he said.