Thick, persistent, with that unmistakable smell of burning garbage that no one in San Miguelito confuses with fog. Minutes later, the fire had a name and a location: the Cárdenas landfill, just a few steps from Cerro Patacón, that uncomfortable neighbor that never fully sleeps. When the first units of the Benemérito Cuerpo de Bomberos de la República de Panama arrived at the scene, the situation was clear: accumulated combustible material, capricious winds, and the latent risk of the fire getting out of control. This was no ordinary flare-up. Reinforcements from Station No. 1, tankers, and units from San Miguelito and Ricardo Arango began to arrive one after another as the clock ticked mercilessly. More than 20 firefighters held the line for five uninterrupted hours, battling a fire that resisted dying. Water was not enough. The units remain on watch, because in Cárdenas as in Cerro Patacón, the danger never fully goes away, it is only controlled.
