As provided for in the General Law on Sustainable Forestry Development, the Municipality of Villaflores has worked on a continuous basis since 2002 to reduce the damage caused by forest fires as part of its working agenda, in conjunction with Federal and State agencies and NGOs. The work plan has the following phases: a) Inter-agency coordination: participation of governmental agencies and NGOs; b) Pre-suppression: actions enabling the preparedness of resources (human, material and financial), highlighted by the establishment and operation of a Municipal Forest Fire Control Center; c) Prevention: actions to increase the participation of the general population; d) Inter-municipal linking: strategy to foster backup, validation and support among different municipal departments; e) Detection and Suppression: fire discovery and notification of staff responsible, who are dispatched under the principles of initial attack; f) Social Participation: aimed at critical communities, involving small farmers, children, youth and women, and also the participation of farmer organizations (UPROSIVI) and civil organizations (BIOMASA, FMCN, AMBIO, CBMM); and h) Education and Training: capacity building at the community and technical level, in order to have personnel qualified, skilled and trained in the subject area.

So far efforts have yielded the following results: 1) Decrease in the area affected per year, from an average of 7,000 hectares between 1995-2001 to an average of 751 hectares; 2) Empowerment in the subject by civil society, through UPROSIVI; 3) Training of 52 technicians and specialists and 105 community firefighters; 4) Resource allocation for alternative production and environmental projects; 6) Network of 30 community fire brigades in support of the program; 7) Development of a Municipal Forest Fire Information System; and 8) 74% contribution in days/man participation in prevention and suppression activities.