In what seems to be a first for this country, uncontrolled forest fires mainly in central and south Belize have been raging for weeks. The south has been hit especially hard, with hundreds of acres of farmland destroyed and hundreds of families directly affected, not to mention the thousands of acres of forest reserves turned into soot and ashes. As Belizeans, we are used to yearly forest fires most commonly during the dry season but never to this extent where fires actually burn for weeks and cause the displacement of residents and destruction of property.
The Prime Minister himself did a flyover of the destroyed areas this week to assess the extent of the damage. See report by 7News: 200familiesaffectedand600acres
In western Belize, we have been suffocating from a combination of smoke and Saharan dust while farmers are becoming anxious about their crops. Usually the first rains, accompanied by thunderstorms, to mark the beginning of the wet weather arrive around the 15th or at the latest the 21st of May. But we are now on the eve of the 24th and still no signs of rain. Only a dull, yellow haze of smoke and dust blanketing the sky by day and night.
Late afternoon view of blackened hills and pastureland turned to ashes