The ban stems from a study showing that sky lanterns, commonly known here as "globos de los deseos” or "wishing balloons," can burn through plastic, wood and other materials in minutes, constituting a major fire hazard.
Currently the fires are mostly concentrated in small, isolated burn areas primarily in three sectors. But all three of them are hard to access and very distant from each other.
Firefighters in the northwestern province of Guanacaste worked until 3 a.m. on Wednesday to extinguish a wildfire that destroyed at least five hectares of Palo Verde National Park. The damaged area is mostly pastureland and secondary forest, park administrator Ulises Chavarría García said.
As windy and chilly weather – typical of the dry season – comes to Costa Rica this week, firefighters are also reminding the public that it's fire season. Firefighters this week urged residents to take precautions as more fires occur during the dry season than at any other time of the year.
Park authorities confirmed on Thursday that three hunters ignited the fire that burned roughly 1,000 hectares of land inside Palo Verde National Park in the northwestern province of Guanacaste.
The Dominican low-cost carrier has not flown to Costa Rica since 8 August and has nothing scheduled until November. Here is what it means if you were counting on the route.
