A Galindo, C Solórzano, C Rodríguez and J Cante
Project Management Office & Agronomy Department, Ingenio San Diego, Escuintla, Guatemala;
Illegal burnings have too often stained the skies—and the hopes—of Guatemala’s south‑coast cane belt. In the 2023/24 harvest, 18% of the stalks that reached Ingenio San Diego had been burnt before harvest. The figure hurt: economically, environmentally, morally. Determined to reverse that curve, we adapted the environmental‑risk equation (Risk = Vulnerability × Threat ⁄ Capacity) and built a Risk Index of Burning (RIB) that resets every 15 minutes. Brainstorming by agronomists, fire crews, meteorologists and community leaders produced 27 factors; 11 survived statistical scrutiny (p < 0.05). Each factor received a weight (relative importance) and a score (ignition probability). The sum of weight × score across factors yields two layers: a weather‑driven RIB‑15 and a quieter daily RIB. Every Monday, a multidisciplinary Mitigation Committee—equal parts analytical and passionate—reviews burned‑tonnage dashboards by management unit and community. Numbers steer HR and CSR teams toward schools, radio stations and neighbourhood groups where awareness matters most. Fire engines idle where the map glows red; motorcycle patrols follow trajectories crafted by data, not gut feeling. The preliminary results speak clearly: incidents fell to 6.9 %, and mitigation time dropped from 32.5 to 21.6 minutes. The course has already shifted.