Gypsy Jan - 11-23-2005 at 12:42 PM
Baja Blazes Keep Firefighters Scrambling
Firefighters and other emergency response personnel in
Baja California had their hands full in recent days
battling a series of wild blazes across the northern
Mexican state. Since November 14, more than 6,000
acres of landscape have burned up around Tijuana,
Ensenada, Tecate and other areas. Chaparral, pasture
and coastal brush all went up in smoke as winds
carried flames to new hotspots. Approximately 500
people were evacuated for their own protection.
Twenty-one homes caught on fire in Tijuana last
weekend
"There have been some difficult hours, but we haven't
had any deaths to lament," commented Manuel Machain
Cazarez, the director of the Tijuana fire department.
"The prinicipal cause is the Santa Ana winds."
In a press conference attended by state and other
officials, Juan Pablo Hernandez, Baja California's
secretary of agro-fisheries development, said
fire-fighting coordination between the three levels of
government-federal, state and municipal-was moving
forward. In addition to regular firefighters, federal
personnel from the National Foresty Commission and
Mexican Defense Ministry lent a helping hand.
Persistent fires in two large garbage heaps were among
the biggest problems that confronted responders. One
blaze hit an illegal dump in El Alamar, while a second
fire broke out in Tijuana's old municipal dump. It's
not known if any hazardous substances were on blaze at
the fire scenes. At least 337 wild fires affecting
more than 75,000 acres have been reported in Baja
California during 2005.
Sources: Proceso/Apro, November 22, 2005. Article by
Arturo Salinas. Frontera, November 22 and 23, 2004.
Articles by Manuel Villegas and Nicte Madrigal.
Frontera NorteSur (FNS): on-line, U.S.-Mexico border
news
Center for Latin American and Border Studies
New Mexico State University
Las Cruces, New Mexico
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