Falcondo mining company president David Soares says that forest fires affected an area of between four and five thousand tareas in the central provinces of Monsenor Nouel and La Vega over the weekend of 9-10 May 2015. Ministry of Environment personnel took part in the fight to extinguish the blaze. A tarea is a land measure only used in the DR. It is equivalent to 629 square meters.
“The efforts to mitigate the fires in Loma Miranda deserve all the recognition of Falcondo because hundreds of people put their lives at risk to stop the ecological damage in the area,” said Soares, as reported in El Dia.
Falcondo is interested in carrying out a mining exploitation on the lands that has been opposed by environmentalists.
The Ministry of Environment said the fire was not caused by the drought that is known to be the source of other recent forest fires, but by arsonists.
The Ministry of Environment said that forest fires have affected around 20,000 tareas nationwide in areas including Restauracion, Los Haitises, Gaspar Hernandez and the Sierra de Bahoruco.
http://www.diariolibre.com/noticias/2015/05/11/i1141521_los-incendios-forestales-afectaron-mil-tareas.html