Author(s)

Méndez-Tejeda Rafael^1*, Santos-Corrada María², Ortiz-Morales Sergio², Claudio-Vargas Oscar²

¹Natural Science Department, Atmospherical Science Laboratory, University of Puerto Rico—Carolina Campus, Carolina, Puerto Rico.
²School of Business and Entrepreneurship, University of Turabo, Gurabo, Puerto Rico.

This study presents an analysis of the impact of forest fires in Puerto Rico for the period from 2013-2014. The climatological factors analyzed included precipitation, temperature, relative humidity, and wind. Several factors have combined to the increase of these forest fires, among others, a decrease in precipitation during this period, as well as an increase in the human involvement in these fires from approximately 40% occurs in the night period (5:00 pm to 8:00 am), where the weather conditions do not favor the appearance of these phenomena. An increase in fires of 44% occurred in 2013 compared to 2014, causing an economic loss of $13.8 million. Fire also adversely affected the flora and fauna of the island, but this was not evaluated in this paper.

Fires Forest, Wildfire; Economic Impact of Forest fires, Precipitation and Weather Conditions

Rafael, M. , María, S. , Sergio, O. and Oscar, C. (2015) Environmental and Economic Impact of Forest Fires in Puerto Rico 2013-2014. Open Journal of Forestry, 5, 353-363. doi: 10.4236/ojf.2015.54030.