Grassfire hits Taal Volcano Island
LUCENA CITY, Quezon – The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) reported a grass fire on Wednesday afternoon at the southeast slopes of Taal Volcano Island.
“Ongoing grassfire that began around 05:35 PM yesterday, 19 May 2026, on the southeast slopes of Taal Volcano Island,” the Phivolcs said in its Facebook post around 6:30 p.m.
READ: Phivolcs: Grassfire strikes at slope of Taal Volcano Island
Personnel from the Philippine Coast Guard station in Batangas immediately coordinated with firefighters from San Nicolas town and rushed to the site.
The response team carried out fire boundary establishment and clearing operations by removing dry grass and other highly combustible materials to prevent the blaze from spreading further.
Based on the latest monitoring by coast guard personnel stationed in San Nicolas, the grass fire was gradually subsiding, the PCG-Batangas said in a Facebook post around 8 p.m.
State volcanologists have yet to determine the cause of the fire. However, authorities noted that in previous grass fire incidents on Taal Volcano Island, “kindling” — dry twigs, bark, split wood, and other highly combustible materials — had often been cited as a possible trigger.
Meanwhile, Phivolcs reported a significant decline in sulfur dioxide (SO₂) emissions from Taal Volcano since Tuesday.
READ: Taal Volcano’s seismic activity increases; Alert Level 1 stays
In its monitoring bulletin issued Thursday, the agency said only 625 metric tons (MT) of SO₂ were emitted from Taal’s main crater over the past 24 hours, classifying the activity as a “weak emission.”
The figure marked a sharp drop from the 1,641 MT daily average recorded from May 15 to 19.
Phivolcs also reported no observed upwelling of hot volcanic fluids in the main crater lake on Taal Volcano Island, locally known as “Pulo,” located at the center of Taal Lake.
Likewise, no volcanic smog and vog were observed during the latest monitoring period.
State volcanologists also recorded three volcanic earthquakes during the same observation window.
Despite the lower emissions, Taal Volcano remains under Alert Level 1, indicating low-level volcanic unrest.
Phivolcs reminded the public that the volcano remains in an abnormal condition and warned against interpreting the decline in gas emissions as a sign that volcanic unrest or the possibility of an eruption has ended./coa
