Puerto Vallarta firefighters have put out the tire-section fire at the El Gavilán landfill after a night of cooling and cleanup work, but the emergency is not yet over. Crews shifted to the upper landfill area, where officials reported partial control of the main cell and continued dependence on wind and weather conditions. The fire has renewed scrutiny of the city’s landfill operations, air-quality response, and recurring risks associated with accumulated tires.
Firefighters extinguish tire section, then shift uphill
Puerto Vallarta firefighters extinguished the tire-section fire in the lower part of the El Gavilán landfill, but crews remained on site Saturday working the upper area of the dump, where flames had not been fully eliminated.
The latest operational update said the tire area was fully sofocated after overnight work with heavy machinery and water trucks. Firefighters then moved equipment to the upper landfill area, known locally as the plancha, where Municipal Civil Protection and Firefighters director Misael López Muro reported that 50 percent of the main cell was under control. The update said further progress depended on weather conditions and wind direction in the area.
The same update said SEAPAL Vallarta, Bahía de Banderas emergency personnel, airport emergency services, state Civil Protection, the Defense Secretariat, and municipal police supported the response. A state aircraft also helped speed up water drops during the previous day’s work.
The fire began on Thursday in the landfill’s tire area and quickly produced a black smoke column visible across parts of Puerto Vallarta. Earlier coverage of the El Gavilán landfill fire described the smoke impacts and school disruptions as the emergency moved through its first day, while a follow-up on the second day of firefighting tracked the shift from an initial tire fire toward a broader landfill-control operation.
Air-quality response remains part of the case
State environmental officials declared an atmospheric emergency after the fire began in an area littered with tires. The measure applied mainly to El Colorado, Los Ángeles, El Zancudo, Verde Valle, Colinas del Valle, Ecoterra Paraíso, La Arboleda, Las Rosas, Ojo de Agua, and nearby areas. State education authorities also suspended in-person classes and outdoor activities in affected school zones during the early response.
Elizabeth Durán Chávez, Jalisco’s director of air-quality management, said officials used Civil Protection information to model where the smoke plume could move.
“With the information shared by Civil Protection, we run a model to identify where the pollutant plume may move and determine which areas have the greatest risk of impact,” Durán Chávez said in a radio interview. She said burning tires can release carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, and toxic particles.
Durán Chávez said the emergency would remain in place until the fire was fully extinguished and at least two hours had passed without risk of reactivation. She also said that a later environmental review could include particle and ash deposition, as well as possible remediation steps by state environmental enforcement authorities.
“The main recommendation is to avoid being near the affected areas, use a mask if they must go out, and not exercise outdoors,” she said. “The most important thing is to protect health.”
More agencies joined as the fire spread
By Friday, state Civil Protection said the response included 66 personnel, 31 vehicles, and specialized machinery. Crews used water cooling, dirt application, and waste removal to reduce heat points and limit the spread of flames inside and around the landfill.
The Witari helicopter was also used for reconnaissance and water drops on strategic points. State authorities said the aerial support was meant to reinforce ground crews and suppress secondary hot spots.
Earlier state and local updates said the first response included municipal firefighters, airport firefighters, regional emergency personnel, and heavy equipment. No official cause has been confirmed. The latest update said the origin of the fire remains under investigation.
Landfill fire adds pressure to trash oversight
The incident comes less than two months after Puerto Vallarta took direct control of trash collection and final disposal. The city has been negotiating the fallout from a 240 million-peso trash debt tied to the end of its prior concession, a dispute that also involved the operation of the El Gavilán landfill.
The landfill’s condition has become part of the public question around the fire. Earlier reporting said Red Ambiental formally handed over landfill operations on March 31, with the municipal government assuming control on April 1. During that transition, the company said the site complied with environmental rules for final disposal and cited work on waste cover, slope improvements, and leachate management.
That company account does not establish the cause of this fire. It does place the incident within a short, closely watched period of municipal control over trash collection and disposal.
By Saturday, the most concrete progress was also the narrowest. The neumáticos area was out. The upper cell still required crews, machinery, and monitoring before authorities could declare the fire fully extinguished.
