The Easter holiday period saw a pick up in the number of wildfires and forest fires affecting various parts of Jalisco.

In the last week of March, 170 firefighters were mobilized to labor around the clock to douse a wildfire in the Cerro Viejo/Chupinaya/Los Sabinos protected forest area in the hills between Ixtlahuacán de Membrillos and Chapala.  Protección Civil y Bomberos (Civil Protection and Firefighting) from Chapala, Ixtlahuacán and Tlajomulco were assisted by personnel from the state Secretariat of the Environment and Territorial Development (Semadet), as well as some qualified individual volunteers. Two helicopters, the Witari operated by Semadet and the Palomo from the Tlajomulco municipality, helped quell the fire. Semadet issued an air quality alert due to the heavy concentration of smoke emitted from the blaze.   

The “wildfire season” is now fully underway, and people enjoying the peace of wooded areas should be aware that fires can break out at any moment.

One of the most common areas in Jalisco for fires is the Primavera Forest, the huge natural protected zone to the west of Guadalajara. This week, some 170 firefighters quelled a wildfire in the forest that affected around 400 hectares of mostly brush land.

The worst of the season may still be to come, however. The total number of blazes reported in the first 15 weeks of 2024 (458) is actually lower than in the same period last year (525), according to Semadet.