Bombing clouds to fight forest fires, Mexico’s new tactic

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – In order to better fight forest fires, a new technique is being used in Mexico.

The Mexican Air Force, part of the Ministry of National Defense (Sedena), in coordination with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, sprayed silver iodide into the clouds by aircraft to cause rainfall over municipalities in the state of Nuevo León and thus extinguish a forest fire.

In a press release, both agencies informed on Friday that on the occasion of a forest fire affecting the areas since March 16, the Sedena had deployed 391 military personnel, 28 vehicles, and three aircraft to control and extinguish the fire, including the specially equipped aircraft.

For its part, the Defense Department indicated that it used a King Air 350i aircraft equipped “with a spraying system to collaborate with the work carried out by the civil and military authorities in fighting the fire.”

With specialized personnel on board, the aircraft took off from Military Air Base number 14, located in Apodaca, Nuevo Leon. On its way and as part of the plan, the plane “unloaded 100 liters of silver iodide in acetone solution that, when interacting with the weather conditions derived from Cold Front number 47, generated rains in the area, which contributed to the suffocation of the fire.”

The report noted that the meteorological conditions reported on March 31 “allowed the reagent to act, detonating the precipitation and sustaining the contribution of humidity that allowed the flames to be extinguished.”

This occurred despite the hot conditions prevailing on the ground and in the surrounding atmosphere for long enough to achieve the objective of extinguishing the fire.

On the other hand, this Friday, the National Forestry Commission (Conafor) reported that up to this day, there are 54 active forest fires in 18 states of the country, with a preliminary affected area of 30,422 hectares. It specified that 13 forest fires are reported in 12 Natural Protected Areas.

Conafor indicated that 2,864 firefighters are working on the fires, including personnel from Conafor and other agencies. Also, it reported a total of 17 fires that have been liquidated, that is, that no longer represent a risk of fire spreading.

According to the Commission, Mexico recorded 1,684 forest fires from January 1 to March 11, with a total of 29,559 hectares affected, the third-largest area in a decade.

Source: El universal