The National Forest Commission (Conafor) said on Thursday that a complex of wildfires burning in the El Tepozteco National Park, just south of Mexico City, has been contained.
The fire — which started April 9 near the village of Santo Domingo Ocotitlán, Morelos — consumed more than 1,200 hectares of the natural protected area above and to the east of the city of Tepoztlán.
Hoy se han reportado 123 #IncendiosForestales activos 🔥🌳, donde cerca de 👨🚒5 mil personas combatientes hacen tareas de control y liquidación del fuego.
Si buscas más detalles, ingresa a https://t.co/slAUqRK5vY pic.twitter.com/GycrGtkLk4
— CONAFOR (@CONAFOR) April 17, 2025
As of Thursday evening, it had been 90% controlled and 85% extinguished.
Tepoztlán Mayor Perseo Quiroz, citing the amount of time it took to contain the wildfire, said it was among the biggest and most destructive in recent memory.
The mayor said that early indications are that the fire was caused by human activity, speculating that the culprit likely hoped to reduce the Natural Park acreage and have the area rezoned for other uses.
On March 31, state authorities opened an arson investigation related to a wildfire north of Tepoztlán that threatened the iconic pyramid in the El Tepozteco Archaeological Zone.
Conafor credited efficient organizational efforts from the Regional Incident Management Team (REMI) for containing and suppressing the blaze as it spread south from Santo Domingo Ocotitlán — about 80 kilometers south of Mexico City — to Amatlán de Quetzalcóatl, nearly 10 kilometers away.
The REMI utilized 400 state, municipal and community firemen who battled high winds and low temperatures which created a hazardous thermal belt. A thermal belt refers to a band of warmer air that forms on slopes due to drainage winds, producing strong, localized updrafts and downdrafts that can limit the effectiveness of air tankers.
Late Thursday, two air tankers were removed to fight fires elsewhere, while two remain in the area to ensure that the El Tepozteco wildfire is completely suppressed.
Conafor reported that 123 wildfires remain ablaze in 28 states, and more than 52,000 hectares have been damaged. At least 33 of the fires are located in Natural Protected Areas.
The states most affected by wildfires are Chihuahua, Michoacán, Oaxaca, Guerrero, Morelos, Durango and Sinaloa.
More than 4,300 firefighters are currently in the field, in addition to Conafor officials and local agents.
While firefighters have suppressed 31 wildfires in the past week, the number of active wildfires has actually increased since Sunday (114), with 14,000 additional hectares affected.
Among the fires suppressed this week was the Chichinautzin Biological Corridor-El Tepozteco wildfire, which straddled Milpa Alta, Mexico City’s southernmost borough, and the national forest north of Tlalnepantla, Morelos.
Conafor also reported that a 35-hectare fire that threatened to encroach on the Mexico City-Cuernavaca (Morelos) highway had been fully extinguished.
With reports from La Jornada, Milenio, Diario de México and Infobae
