It’s been a tough year for firefighters in Jalisco. A substantial increase in the number of brush and forest fires has tested the resolve of firefighting forces in the state, as the “dry” season reaches its temperature peaks.
Particularly badly hit has been Tlajomulco, to the south of the metro area Guadalajara. In the first four months of 2012, the municipality suffered 62 fires – this year’s total is a whopping 151. April alone saw 65 fires.
As of press time, firefighters and emergency personnel from various agencies were battling 13 fires in Jalisco, bringing the state’s total for the year to more than 300. (Last year’s total for the entire dry season was 347.)More than 13,000 hectares has been affected, and the blazes have been controlled by 650 personnel accrued from the National Forestry Commission (Conafor), Mexico’s Defense Department (Sedena), the Jalisco Environment Agency (Semadet), municipal firefighting and civil protection forces, as well as local volunteers.
According to Jalisco Health Secretary Jaime Agustin Gonzalez Alvarez the number of cases of respiratory ailments has increased significantly in zones where forest and brush fires have broken out.
On Wednesday, a smog alert was active in only one of the nine zones monitored for air quality in the metropolitan area of Guadalajara. High readings at the Santa Fe station to the south of the city in Tlajomulco prompted a phase one alert, which recommends the restriction of outdoor physical activity, closing all doors and windows and the use of a face mask, if possible, when in the open air. Schools, however, can remain open.