MADRID, Spain.- A strong forest fire has broken out near the road that leads to Playa Larga, in an area known as the Ciénaga de Zapata herbazal, in the province of Matanzas.
According to reported the official journalist Lázaro Manuel Alonso, the incident began at noon this Monday due to the intense drought that affects almost the entire country.
The work of firefighters and rangers to extinguish the fire is being hampered by the force of the winds. The fire forced to cut off traffic in the area, adds the information.
The Ciénaga de Zapata, with an approximate area of 300,000 hectares, is the largest wetland in the insular Caribbean. Just as it is part of the best preserved green regions of the archipelago and constitutes an important Biosphere Reserve and RAMSAR Site.
Among the numerous forest fires that are occurring in the country, mainly due to drought, transcended in recent days, the one unleashed on February 18 in the wooded area of Pinares de Mayarí, in the province of Holguín, and which could not be controlled until this Sunday. The residents of the nearby settlements were evacuated as they were being affected by the smoke.
According to official data, The fire damaged some 5,350 hectares of forest which, according to specialists cited by GranmaThey will take decades to recover.
According to figures from the Cuban Ranger Corps, so far in 2023 there have been 278 forest fires in the country, only six less than those that occurred in 2023.
The 284 fires last year, mostly caused by “negligent actions,” damaged 1,876 hectares of forest, the Ranger Corps said.
The critical period for forest fires in Cuba runs from January 1 to May 31, the driest season.
