Guadalajara Reporter

The fire started on Saturday, April 21 with some illegal trash burning on the edge of the Bosque La Primavera Protected Area where I work.  By Monday morning, it was burning out of control in many locations and a very well organized response was underway.

Brian Staley (the other Peace Corps Volunteer at the Bosque) and I tried to help wherever we could. Sometimes I was able to make sandwiches. Brian helped organize the massive amount of water and drinks that were donated. All day every day people pulled up in cars, pickup trucks, small vans, with medicines, eye drops, headlamps, prepared food, candy, sports drinks, water and more.  Social media sites spread the word about what was needed. Bosque staff assembled things and then ferried them up to the Operations Center. They all worked extremely long hours, in hot, dusty and dry conditions.

The Operations Center was very impressive. It was located at a large open area that is used by a radio-controlled model airplane club (50 percent of the Bosque is privately-owned, with quite a few second homes and farms). The coordinated agencies had set up the Center with lots of parking for water trucks, tanks for the helicopters, an area for the distribution of drinks and food, a medical section and a press center.

Helicopters came and went, filling up with water from surprisingly small tanks on the field, regularly sending clouds of dust over everything. Trucks pulled up with tired and dirty firefighters. Officials flew in on other helicopters for the press conferences. Volunteers kept the bins of drinks filled with beverages and ice. The most popular were definitely the energy drinks – when Monster and Red Bull deliveries showed up the cans disappeared almost immediately, followed by sports drinks, with few looking for plain water. They could have used more chocolate instead of granola bars, and apples went much faster than oranges, probably because they were easier to eat.

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