In the News

I actually snapped this photo of the front page of a newspaper last Wednesday, but the story continues to be in the news.

The headline says that there were 95 forest fires burning in 18 states throughout Mexico.

We are in the middle of the dry season which extends from November until May.  The drought plus the unusually high temperatures (for the last several weeks the daily high has been above 80 F) have created tinderbox conditions.  The states which have been most affected have been Hidalgo, Morelos, Jalisco, Nuevo León, and, worst of all, the state of México (which surrounds Mexico City on three sides).  More than four thousand firefighters have been battling the fires, and four people have died.

The President of Mexico made the claim that the fires are the result of real estate developers clearing land for the construction of houses.  He later had to admit that there is no evidence to support that claim.  The fires are caused by careless accidents (tossing cigarette butts out of car windows) and the traditional practice by farmers of burning their fields before the spring planting.

As of yesterday, there were still 69 active fires throughout the country.