Preventing Wildfires in Mexican Mountains and National Parks

“Take care of mountains, nature & wildlife, travel safe & be more sustainable in the outdoors ” - Yacana Outdoors

Preventing wildfires is crucial for the safety of everyone around us as well as for the protection of wildlife and their habitats. By being mindful of our impact on the environment and following local fire regulations, we can help prevent wildfires from occurring and maintain the natural beauty around us.

We all heard about the last big wildfire in one of the most important mountains in Mexico, Iztaccihuatl. The trail from base camp to the second pass better known as “Segundo Portillo” turned into a dark and dead landscape, the mountain was closed for a month and it took more than a week for 200 mountain guards, firemen & volunteers to control and end it.

So! The big question is what caused it?

A group of non-experienced hikers went to the mountain without any registered team or company, and started a fire on the evening of March 14, 2024, during the night they lost control of the fire and started a wildfire that turned grassland into dark, smoke and ashes. The wildfire burned around twelve square kilometers or five thousand acres, having no human casualties but killing uncountable endemic animals like the rabbit of the mountains (Teporingo) and raddle snakes.

Our next recommendations will help you understand how to prevent wildfires, and travel safely & sustainable on any outdoor trip:

1)Avoid doing fires outdoors, if you are going out, do not light any fire, there are multiple dangerous effects, the first one is to promote broader wildfires, and is not enough to say: Huh I am sure that I turned off the fire, A big no to that! All the materials that you leave there like the remaining carbon and wood become so inflammable during the night because they remain hot and the little sparks can fly around over 3 km in a windy day.

Wildfires promote the establishment of exotic plant species, and are not recommended and should be banned inside every national park, but is this important to me? The answer is yes, it is documented that grasslands dominated by exotic species have 260% more wildfires than grasslands dominated by native species, so it becomes more dangerous to hike in places with nonnative vegetation.

2) Do not throw any garbage at the mountain, this point might sound obvious but throwing garbage is not only pollution, a lot of people in Mexican mountains throw toilet paper, and little pieces of food wrap. Paper is flammable and high temperatures during the day can ignite it provoking a big wildfire. On the other hand, food wraps act like mirrors, reflecting and enhancing solar radiation to some specific points increasing the likelihood of igniting the dry grasses, overall, during the dry season in tropical mountains and overall in this drier year caused by “La Niña”.

3) Never drop water during the day hours, sometimes by accident or just as bad hiking tick, hikers spill water or throw it in the soil or worst near the grass, the water drops act as a magnifying glass focusing solar radiation and then again increasing the likelihood to ignite the dry grasses.