Montecristi Civil Defense spokesman Maximo Ventura reports that on 9pm on Friday, 18 July 2014 a fire broke out shortly after a light rain shower accompanied by lightning, thought to have caused the fire. The fire destroyed Guatapanal bushes and gutted the wooden stairways leading up the Morro hill. This made it difficult for firefighters to extinguish the blaze on Friday evening. The fire was put out after daybreak early on Saturday morning. The government had recently spent RD$3 million on building the staircase.