Firefighters in Quintana Roo are working to extinguish the second wildfire of the summer in the Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve.

The fire, which covers an area of 1,085 hectares, started on August 1 in the southern part of the reserve, near the area known as Uaymil. It broke out while firefighters were fighting another fire in the northern part of the reserve, which they were able to extinguish on August 4.

Firefighters say they have extinguished 35% of the new fire, and the other 65% is under control. The National Forest Commission (Conafor), the military and the Quintana Roo Ecology and Environment Secretariat are all involved in the firefighting effort.

According to Conafor spokesperson Román Uriel Castillo Carballo, the fire could continue to burn for another week. He noted that part of it will reach a mangrove forest in the coming days, and will likely stop spreading in that direction.

He said the fires were started by poachers hunting white-tail deer.

The affected area is about 85% savannah, while the remaining 15% is forested.

There have been 7,211 forest fires across Mexico in 2019, affecting a total surface area of 585,696 hectares in every Mexican state. The states with the most fires were México, Michoacán, Chihuahua, Jalisco, Mexico City, Chiapas, Puebla, Tlaxcala, Guerrero and Oaxaca, which accounted for 78% of all fires.

Source: El Financiero (sp), La Jornada Maya (sp)