Firefighters in Zapopan have a new helicopter to battle fires during the dry season.
The vehicle will be leased from the city of Monterrey at a cost of 7.8 million pesos (US$440,000), around half that of an airplane. It will carry up to 200 thousand liters of water to hose down fires during the dry season.
Zapopan Mayor Pablo Navarro Lemus said the fire brigade was thrilled that the municipal government had been awarded the vehicle. “It is very useful for hosing fires,” the mayor said.
“The difference with a small plane is that planes are restricted to landing in nearby places but cannot drop off firefighters, whereas helicopters have the ability to go near the area of the fire and deliver the firefighters so they can tackle the blaze.”
The number of fires in the metropolitan area has increased by up to 200 percent from last year. Low rainfall during the dry season is the main factor behind this increase.
Mayor Navarro Lemus announced that the owner of a garden next to a forest in the Bugambilias gated community in Tlajomulco was fined 40,000 pesos (US$2,300) for negligence that led to a fire in the area. Authorities reported that the grass on his property was too dry. Lemus Navarro also announced that measures would be taken to protect the green areas in Bugambilias, which is next to the Bosque de la Primavera forest, one of eight specially protected areas in Jalisco.