Fires devour forests in Pinar del Río.

The wooded areas of the municipality of San Juan y Martínez, in Pinar del Río, woke up this Tuesday under the scorching fire of two wildfires, which are keeping the Forest Guard and forestry workers of the western Cuban territory on edge.

The first one is located in the foothills, in an area known as Máquina Vieja, and has already affected about 120 hectares (ha) of young pine trees, acacia, and eucalyptus, among other species. Meanwhile, the second one extends through Agua Dulce and covers between 110 and 115 hectares of pine forests.

According to the information provided on her Facebook profile, Yamile Ramos Cordero, the first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba in the region, is working intensively to control the flames.

Without danger to the population as it is located far from the communities, the flames are being extinguished by a hundred forest rangers assisted by heavy equipment for the opening of firebreaks, with the purpose of containing the fire and preventing its spread.

However, according to Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Pereda Burón, head of the Forest Rangers in Pinar del Río, "the confrontation with the fire has become complicated due to the wind and the intense drought that the province is experiencing," reported the official newspaper Granma.

So far this year, the westernmost region of Cuba has recorded 73 forest fires with an environmental and economic cost close to 800 hectares of forests, in which human negligence is identified as the main factor.

Precisely last April, the fire department managed to extinguish a similar incident in the mountainous areas of Viñales (350 hectares). This was the first major fire recorded so far this year in Pinar del Río.

In 2024, there have been reported other large-scale forest fires in several provinces of the country.

One of these broke out on a hill near the city of Santiago de Cuba, threatening homes in the urban nucleus close to the affected area and causing concern among the neighbors.

Also in Santa Clara, Villa Clara, a fire was reported that devastated a forest area near the Los Caneyes hotel. The flames affected the electrical service in a circuit of the provincial capital.

In January, another large-scale fire consumed protected forest areas in the communities of Tres Fiebres in Moa, and Alto de Cruzata in Yateras, belonging to the Alejandro de Humboldt National Park (AHNP) in the provinces of Holguín and Guantánamo, in that order.