After hours of preparation, Artemisa showed its skills in the Defense Council in Guira de Melena and the provincial council, due to a fire in Cajío town.

About 4:00 pm on Saturday afternoon , the Department of Defense in the municipality received the news of a fire on the coast of Cajio settlement affecting weeds and forest trees.

Immediately José Antonio Valeriano, President of the Provincial Defense Council; and Mirurgia González, president of the Municipal Defense Council and other authorities went to the place , to analyze damages provoked by the fire and extinguish it.

Once in the affected area the authorites asked for the support of firefighters from San Antonio de los Baños, Alquízar, Batabanó and Artemisa municipalities , with tanker trucks, and the forest rangers, with fire fighting techniques.

According to Jorge Luis Barrios, head of the Department of Defense and member of the Council of the Municipal Administration about 600 to 700 hectares of forest and weeds got burned , and authorities are investigating how the fire started to inform the population.

Means of transportation were provided by School Bus Company and the Ambulance Central to evacuate or help the inhabitants. The Ministry of Interior(MININT) offered operational support, and a group of doctors, staff specializing in health and emergency treatment and the Red Cross offered their services because the fire spread to the backyards of some homes.

So far loss of human lives have not been reported and material damage are yet to be counted.

TRANSLATION BY LMMS