Some 500 hectares of the Santa Rosa National Park in the northwestern province of Guanacaste have been scorched by a fire that began Wednesday, the daily La Nación reported.

The fire reached an area of vegetation that is in the process of natural regeneration, stated the National Emergency Commission (CNE). The emergency staff is focused on preventing the flames from spreading to other areas of the park.

Last Monday, officials of the Guanacaste Conservation Area, volunteers and firefighters put out a separate fire in the Santa Elena section of the park that burned two acres of pasture and scrubland.

Roberto Dobles, the Environment Minister, said that this year 70 fires have scorched protected areas. They have been caused by agricultural burns or by people lighting fires in retaliation because they were prohibited from hunting.

Also this week, firefighters battled flames in an area adjacent to the Caño Negro Wildlife Refuge near the Nicaraguan border, where a wildfire burned some 150 hectares.

This fire came on the heels of an April 10 blaze that blackened 300 hectares of wetland vegetation in the Caño Negro region.