The shocking images of the fire in the La Primavera Forest: more than 500 brigades fight the fire in this protected area of ​​Jalisco

For three days, more than 500 brigades have worked tirelessly in Jalisco to control the forest fire that is consuming the Protected Natural Area of ​​the Spring Forest, in the Las Canoas area.

Although in the last hours the brigades fighting the flames managed to advance in the extinction work, the fire has not yet been smothered. And because of the wind, this Sunday, April 4 the smoke spread to the metropolitan area of ​​Guadalajara, which led to the activation of the atmospheric alert in 15 municipalities of the entity.

According to information published by Enrique Alfaro, head of the state government, the emergency services they already controlled five of the four fronts that make up the fire.

At those points the fire has not yet been extinguished, but there is no risk of it spreading either. For this reason, this Saturday, April 3, the command units moved the operation’s control center to Agua Brava, to deal with the last front.

“Good news, although the winds have spread the smoke to the city and the atmospheric alert continues, the command post at Akron Stadium was deactivated and moved to Agua Brava to attend the last front and control the fire in Las Canoas, in the Bosque La Primavera Protected Natural Area”, the governor explained on his Twitter account, late on Saturday, April 3.

“There is still to extinguish this terrible forest fire and the jobs will go on all night. The same state of force is maintained, but after three full days of work some brigades have been allowed to rest through a rotation exercise”, he added.

During the early hours of Sunday, work was carried out simultaneously at various points. According to information from Commander Sergio Ramírez, liquidation tasks were carried out on the fronts towards the Bugambilias side, towards San José de la Montaña, at La Bandera, Majahuete and at the Mesas de San Juan.

They also fought the fire in the Agua Brava area.

“The most important and active front that we have at the moment is on the Aguacaliente side, so we are going to continue working throughout the night,” he said on Saturday afternoon.

The fire started on Thursday, April 1, and since then, to quell the forest fire, and save as much as possible the fauna and vegetation of this protected area, a broad operation made up of 554 brigades, six helicopters and almost 100 vehicles such as pipes, Pick Up trucks, and unimog motorcycle pumps from the three levels of government were deployed in Jalisco.

In the last hours, elements from the National Forestry Commission (CONAFOR) of Nayarit and Michoacán, and also professionals from the Ministry of Environment and Territorial Development (Semadet) from the interior of Jalisco joined.

This Saturday, April 3, 50 hours of uninterrupted work were completed, so some brigades were allowed to rest, and take shifts. Although the incident does not threaten residential areas near the forest at the moment, the smoke affects some communities.

At first the atmospheric alert was activated in Ahualulco de Mercado, Ameca, Cocula, Tala and Zapopán. And this Sunday, the wind direction caused the pollutants generated by the flames to move towards the Guadalajara Metropolitan Area (AMG), so the Jalisco Atmospheric Monitoring System (SIMAJ) also extended the alert in the following communities.

* Municipality of Zapopan: San Juan de Ocotlán, Bugambilias, New Mexico, Miramar, Vallarta Gardens.

* Municipality of Guadalajara: Chapalita, Cruz del Sur, Paseos del Sol, Loma Bonita, El Sauz, Monraz, Santa Teresita.

* Municipality of Tlaquepaque: Santa María Tequepexpan, la Gigantera, San Sebastianito.

In the AMG the air quality in the AMG was “bad”, due to the pollutant PM10. The maximum level was 116 points and was recorded in Santa Fe. The health risk, according to SIMAJ, is “extremely high.” In addition, it was also noted that in Vallarta the indices are “extremely bad” also for PM10.

The authorities issued a series of recommendations for the areas that are under atmospheric alert:

– Keep doors and windows closed.

– Avoid doing any outdoor activity.

– Monitors symptoms of patients with respiratory, chronic and cardiovascular diseases.

– Stay informed by official means.

– Protect your pets indoors.

– If you have any respiratory symptoms, go to your health center.

– Follow the instructions of the Civil Protection Units and Firefighters.