Environment says fire in Sierra de Bahoruco is nearly extinguished

SANTO DOMINGO. The Deputy Minister of Forest Resources of the Ministry of the Environment, Manuel Serrano, confirmed to Diario Libre that since last Friday they have registered several forest fires in the Sierra de Bahoruco and, since yesterday, the last event, located close to Puerto Escondido next to Jimani, was close to being extinguished.

He assured the reporters that although the population has a right to be worried, there are no reason to be alarmed due to the facts that the fires are not of a large-scale and do not represent danger. "Some fires have been registered of different sizes, let us say that they have been put out, but we put out one, another appears in another place, and because of that the fire brigades remain there in that zone," he said. He cited among the areas affected by the forest fires those areas near El Mogote.

He said that the Ministry of the Environment has decided to leave the fire brigades in the area in order for them to be able to deal with the fires immediately.

He said that for the moment he cannot talk about the causes of these fires because they are unknown for now, and the institution is still in the phase of extinguishing the fires.

He recalled that this is a National Park that has units of vigilance and prevention.