INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
CEBU CITY — Fire broke out during the weekend in at least three areas in Cebu due to the extreme heat.
At least seven hectares were gobbled up by fire on Saturday night, while two other fires broke out Sunday in Cebu City and in Mandaue City.
A massive forest fire hit Oslob town late evening of April 6, turning the landscape into a blazing inferno.
The Oslob Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office said the wildfire lasted for four hours, spreading across about 70
hectares of grassland and affected barangays Cañang, Calumpang, Daan Lungsod, and Poblacion.
READ: 6 fires rage in Metro Cebu
According to the residents, the fire started around 7 p.m. in the grassy fields of Bongdo in Barangay Cañang.
At 9:33 p.m., firefighters sounded the first alarm as the flames encroached on the mountain range of nearby villages.
It took around four hours for firefighters to control the blaze.
The fire was eventually put out at 2:15 a.m. on April 7.
On Sunday afternoon, another grass fire broke out in Barangay Umapad in Mandaue City.
READ: Fires strike forests in 3 Pangasinan towns
The fire was reported to the fire department at 1:17 p.m. and was put out by responders at 1:49 p.m.
The fire department also responded to a grass fire in Barangay Tisa on Sunday.
The Bureau of Fire Protection in Central Visayas was still investigating the cause of the fire incidents.
The Cebu Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (PDRRMO) asked the public to refrain from burning things even outdoors as this could cause grass or wild fire.
“These grass fires happen because of the extreme hot weather conditions. Never throw lighted cigarettes to dry grass as these can cause fires,” said PDRRMO Information Officer Wilson Ramos.