Reporter reader Cathie Simon took this dramatic photograph from her home in Chula Vista looking south across Lake Chapala on the evening of Thursday, April 18.
The brush fires raged above the town of San Luis Soyatlan for a further five days, noted Simon, leaving “the air thick with smoke along with the dust of the season.” While brush fires are common – and usually controllable – around the shores of Lake Chapala, the national picture is somewhat more of a concern. According to the National Forestry Commission (Conafor), around 6,000 forest fires have damaged a quarter of a million acres in Mexico this year. On Sunday, April 21, Conafor received reports of 199 forest fires raging in Mexico, a record number for any single day.