The Environment and Energy Ministry (MINAE) began taking stock yesterday of the damage left by a forest fire that tore through 900 hectares (about 2,200 acres) of Costa Rica's Santa Rosa National Park in the northwest Guanacaste province.

After burning for several days inside the park, which covers 38,674 hectares (95,500 acres), the fire was extinguished late Friday, said Luis Diego Román, coordinator of MINAE's National Fire Management Program.

Officials with MINAE were patrolling the burned areas and watching for hotspots over the weekend, and yesterday began measuring the damage using GPS points, Román said.

The fire, which began at several different points, is believed to have been started intentionally by a poacher whom park guards surprised in January and seized his weapons and the animals he had killed, Román said.

“We have our suspicions,” Román said, adding that horse tracks were found near where some of the fires began. Horses are not allowed in the park.

The Santa Rosa blaze is the 29th wildfire this year, Román said. Of those, 23 have been inside protected areas, such as national parks or wildlife refuges.

“The majority of the causes are produced by humans, whether it's vandalism, vengeance or agricultural burning,” Román said.

In total, forest fires this year have charred 4,400 hectares (10,900 acres), of which 3,800 hectares (9,400 acres) were protected land, the fire protection coordinator said. This is a drop from last year's unusually damaging season, when 90 forest fires scorched a total of 32,000 hectares. Of those, 54 fires razed trees inside protected areas.

This year's largest fire occurred within Palo Verde National Park, also in Guanacaste, when 1,500 hectares burned. Last year's largest fire covered 2,000 hectares inside Guanacaste National Park.

According to Román, both fires were also believed to have been caused intentionally.