An intense fire fighting effort was deployed in Bahoruco after on Friday, 7 July 2017 a fire broke out in Sierra de Bahoruco National Park in the southwest. The Ministry of Environment reported the fire was controlled but had destroyed thousands of tareas (1 tarea = 629 sq. meters) of pine forest. The fire began at Km 28 of the Aceitillar mountain road and spread through an area of around 2,000 tareas of the protected biosphere reserve.
On Saturday, Minister Francisco Domínguez Brito and deputy minister Manuel Serrano inspected the area to back the hundreds of forest fire fighting crews working to put out the fire.
“If Haiti does not have guaconejo (big cuaba) trees anymore, then it is not possible that they continue to export the wood taken from our forests, where it is trafficked by bad Dominicans who want to earn a buck without thinking of the immense damage they cause,” said Domínguez.
The Ministry of Environment reported that to control the fire, forest fighting crews came to the area from Pedernales, Puerto Escondido, San Juan de la Maguana and La Vega province. The Air Force helped locate key points of the fire, and many volunteers also participated.
The cause of the fire is investigated, but the Ministry suspects the fire was caused by those who traffic in charcoal and guaconejo wood from Dominican forests and illegally transported to Haiti where it is then exported to be used for the preparation of perfumes. Cesar Peralta, administrator of the reserve, said that last week hundreds of bags of guaconejo were confiscated from traffickers.
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Ministry of Environment
10 July 2017
