Prevention for Forest Fires in Cuba
Prevention for Forest Fires in Cuba
12 February 2015
published by www.plenglish.com
Cuba — The Firemen Department of Cuba (CBC) called to extend the preventive work and education to sensitize the population in the fulfillment of the measurements of protection from forest, agricultural and rural fires.
Raúl González, specialist of the Department of the Handling of the Fire of the National Headquarters of the CBC, underlined that the affectations for this type of catastrophes registered in Cuba in 2014 reached to 16 million Cuban pesos.
Ninety-nine percent of the incidents was fundamentally because of human negligent actions.
Since the beginning of 2015 up to date there have been 61 forest fires, which have affected more than 250 hectares, González reported.
He stressed that the managers and owners of the forest patrimony are the persons in charge of their own lands.
“In them, they must keep a suitable silvicultural activity, as well as the neighbors and adjacent personnel, who are also persons in charge of taking care of the forests.
“An increasing tendency is observed to the increase of fires hazard towards the category of high, in almost the whole country, that is why it is recommended to all the provinces to carry out extreme measurements with a view to reducing the occurrence and affectations because of forest fires,” said the expert.
He specified that the climatic changes, the high temperatures and the agricultural drought sharpen increasingly the critical stage of these facts.
González pointed out that although the Foresters’ Body is provided with the necessary equipment and the manual hardware in the professional brigades, the specializing ones and the volunteers, for the clash of the forest fires, this does not guarantee a hundred per cent that there are no affectations.
The specialist, mentioned by Cuban Juventud Rebelde newspaper, was sorry for facts such as the lack of respect to the authorizartion of hours to burn lands for planting, illegal hunting of fishing and other activities in which the irrational use of fire takes place systematically, and insisted of establishing legal measures with effectiveness to face social indiscipline, illegalities in the woods and cultivations and other harmful activities.
Among the main causes for forest fires, there are also the circulation of vehicles without devices to put out the fire, circulation of illegal hunters and fishermen, and irresponsible cigarette or cigar smokers.
