150 hectares of forest consumed by fire on Mt. Isarog
NAGA CITY, Philippines – A forest fire that broke out in Mount Isarog on Saturday consumed at least 150 hectares of second-growth forest before it was doused Sunday by the joint efforts of villagers and the provincial government of Camarines Sur.
Edencia Orlina, chief of the affected village of Harubay in Calabanga town, said by phone on Sunday that the concerted efforts of employees from the provincial disaster risk reduction management office of Camarines Sur and volunteers from their village had paid off, using simple ways of preventing the spread of the fire closer to communities.
Orlina said the fire burned hundreds of hardwood species on the shoulders of Mt. Isarog – affecting about 100 hectares in an area belonging to Barangay (village) Kaway-nan in Tinambac town and another 50 ha in Harubay.
She said they could not have put off the fire if not for the immediate response of Gov. Miguel Luis Villafuerte who dispatched more than 50 volunteers, mostly foresters, to the area.
Orlina said the provincial government employees and volunteers did the job by studying the direction of the wind and the fire and preempted its spread through simple clearing of the vulnerable area.
She said one small rest house in her village was destroyed by the fire.
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