Topiltzín Contreras Macbeath, Secretary of Sustainable Development for the State of Morelos, said that the fire that started in the nature reservation in Tepoztlán, Morelos on April 5 has been brought under control.
In an interview with Notimex, the official said that the fire damaged at least 250 acres of the forest.
He confirmed that the property where the fire started has been found, and that a forensics team will determine what caused the fire and assign responsibility if necessary.
The National Commission for Protected Natural Areas (Conanp) and the Special Prosecutor’s Office for Environmental Protection (Profepa) will determine what laws were broken, if any, and sanction anyone found responsible.
Today alone, there were 18 discharges of water from XE-ERA helicopters from the State of Mexico and MI 17 helicopters from the Marines and the Federal Police. During the three-day fire, there were a total of 33 discharges.
A total of 227 forest firefighters participated in the effort to put out the fire, including 24 from the National Forest Commission (Conafor), 30 from the rural brigades, 20 from the SDS, 16 municipal firefighters, 10 from Conanp, 27 volunteers and 100 from the Army.
The firefighters were organized under the Unified Firefighting Command in Morelos with the support of Morelos’ Secretariat of Sustainable Development. Various federal agencies also supported the initiative, including the Environmental and Natural Resources Secretariat (Semarnat), Conafor, Conanp, Profepa, the Secretariat of National Defense (Sedena).
Contreras thanked the residents of Tepoztlán for their help in putting out the fire.
