Madrid, Spain.- The forest fire of great proportions that It affects last Friday The area of La Vigía, in the municipality of San Juan and Martínez, west of the province of Pinar del Río, has already devastated more than 460 hectares of forests, mainly of young pines.
According to the official press, the extinction work is being led by the body of rangers in coordination with forest brigades and technical means of the comprehensive agroforestry company.
The provincial chief of the rangers, Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Pereda Burón, explained to Granmto That the fire is being difficult to control due to factors such as the prolonged drought in the area, the speed of the winds that exceeds 40 km/h, and the complexity of the mountainous terrain. In the region it has not rained for more than three months.
“We have a very complicated situation in terms of the topography of the area, which prevents the access of the machinery to some key areas,” said the officer. In the field, bulldozers, tank trucks have been deployed and firewood trails have been opened to contain the progress of fire. The application of the background technique as an extreme measure is also evaluated if the conditions allow it.
In addition to this focus, the authorities report six other fires Assets in the province, which affect municipalities such as Guane, Southern Consolation, Mines de Matagre and Mantua.
The specialists have described the firefire as the most complex of the year due to the combination of adverse weather conditions and logistics limitations.
Forest fires in Cuba
According to official data, so far from 2025 more than 200 have been registered forest fires In Cuba, most in the west of the country. The most frequent causes are linked to human carelessness, such as poorly turned off or unauthorized burns, aggravated by persistent drought.
During the first five months of last year, 326 forest fires were recorded on the island, for a total of 2,787.45 hectares of destroyed forests. While in 2023, for the same period, 613 fires of this type were recorded, which damaged 13,980 hectares of forest and 489.5 of Ciénaga herbazles.
