And in San Pedro Columbia, Toledo, firefighters have been battling a forest fire for over three weeks. It has resulted in the loss of wildlife, cacao crops, and thatch houses.
The fight has been led by volunteers with support from NEMO and the Fire Department.
But, the Department's resources are limited, especially in the south, and today Mortis gave us an update on the situation.
Kenneth Mortis, Station Supervisor, NFS
"We were in dialogue between some of the other agencies and the fire department in that exact jurisdiction because it is a concern, you know, it is a concern whereby all these bushfires at the end of the day consume somebody's house."
"And the go-to guy will be the fire department. And if you look at San Pedro Columbia versus where the fire station is at in what we call in Town, that's miles, that's at least 17 miles. And the road isn't always traversable."
"You know, we'll be running around some smooth highways. We'll be using rough roads and looking at the weight of our trucks that we have. You know, we got to proceed with caution. We are already limited to a certain extent."
"So we don't want to be running through the off roads to respond to our bushfires because we know your house is at risk. So I believe starting today, that leads through this entire season, then those other agencies, like I said, they're in dialogue with the fire department."
"If it's something that they need the manpower, we have that. If it's something that they need to look at the water resources, then that's something we need to look at carefully. But it's a matter that we are already addressing as of morning and we'll see how it goes from there."
