Puerto Rico's Fire Bureau (Negociado de Bomberos) is monitoring a forest fire that broke out Monday night in Carolina, at the Juan Pérez farm between Carolina and Piñones. Smoke was first seen Monday afternoon; the cause remains undetermined. The bureau is working with Carolina municipal firefighters and Carolina's Emergency Management Office (OMME Carolina). As of early Tuesday morning, the fire did not threaten structures.
Captain Orlando Requena told Noticentro the fire is about a mile behind Carolina's landfill, in a swampy area with mangroves and mud that firefighters cannot access by truck or on foot, so crews remain in observation mode until it reaches an accessible, safe area. He said rain helped reduce the smoke cloud. No medical cases linked to the fire have been reported, but smoke may have affected air traffic at Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport. It's unclear whether the fire was natural or man-made.
Similar forest fires have also been reported recently in Ponce, Toa Alta, Caguas, Juncos, and Canóvanas amid dry, windy conditions. So far this year, the Fire Bureau has recorded 1,189 forest fires in Puerto Rico, 76 more than at the same point last year.