He Large proportions fire That the mountainous area of Pinares de Mayarí affected two years ago in Holguín, affected about 14,000 hectares of forest, twice as much estimated, stressed this Friday the state press.
“The contaminating burden from combustion exceeded 1000 tons per hectare, which could have thrown about 14 million tons of polluting gases into the atmosphere,” explained the head of the Department of Terrestrial Ecosystems at the Center for Environmental and Technological Research and Services of Holguín, Carlos Peña.
“Due to the duration and extension of the fire and the biomass present in the affected vegetation, the impact of the fire on the atmosphere was very high,” says the report published by the newspaper Granma.
The incident, which began in February 2023 and was controlled almost a month later, affected more than half of the surface of the La Mesura-Piloto National Park (a protected area), one of the experts involved in the extinction of the fire told the newspaper.
Peña added that “the soil reached very high temperatures, which gave rise to the loss of the ability to retain water and the suppression of the plant layer, the latter being the cause of landslides, as an indication of insufficient conservation measures and containment barriers in the areas.”
In the Sierra de Nepa, which is part of the mountain massif affected by the fire, “from 700 to 800 species of plants could have been directly or indirectly impacted by the flames,” said the specialist.
In recovery areas damaged by forest fire of Pinares de Mayarí in 2023
The most critical period for forest fires covers from January to May, which coincides with the dry season, according to the body of guardianships of Cuba (CGB).
In 2024, at the end of the Forest Fire Fire Protection campaign, which takes place in the first five months of the year, the CGB reported 326 fires that affected almost 3000 hectares of forests.
EFE/ONCUBA.
