Choppers on their way to douse water on Banahaw fire

Photo courtesy of Jerome Quejano

MANILA, Philippines – Helicopters carrying water supply were sent to Mount Banahaw in Quezon on Thursday morning in an attempt to put out a forest fire that has been raging for more than 20 hours, a provincial disaster reduction officer said.

“Based on the information I received from the Regional Disaster Risk Reduction Council…and the Southern Luzon Command, we have three choppers with buckets that are able to gather water from a river or other bodies of water to douse on the fire,” Dr. Henry Buzar, Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (PDRRMC) head, told Inquirer Radio 990AM in Filipino.

He said the helicopters will be coming from the Bicol region and will land in Camp Gen. Guillermo Nakar in Lucena, Quezon before heading to Banahaw.

Buzar admitted that the government was not ready to address such incident since it is the first time that a forest fire as large as that had been reported.

He said the cause and extent of the fire have yet to be determined though it could be seen along the volcano’s crater. Mt. Banahaw is an active volcano. Fortunately, there are no houses near the area.

The government’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said about a 10-hectare (24.7-acre) patch of forest near the summit had been destroyed as of early Thursday.

Firefighters have still not reached the blaze some 18 hours after it was first observed, said municipal disaster official Elmer Bustamante.

“The area is too steep,” he told news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP) by telephone from the town of Sariaya at the base of the mountain, about 95 kilometers (59 miles) south of Manila.

Environment officials in the region are surveying the fire aboard military aircraft to check the extent of the damage and see how best to put it under control, Bustamante added.

Earlier reports said the fire, threatening endangered plants and animals in an area also considered by some local sects as a holy place, started at 6 p.m., along the Sariaya part of the mountain.

Buzar said one possibility they are looking at are members of religious sects leaving candles in the area. He said it happened before in the “Kalbaryo” part of the volcano and they had a chopper fly in to put out the fire.

He also explained that in countries like Australia, where bush fires often happen, picnickers are prohibited from bringing bottles which may cause grass and other vegetation to catch fire.

“Kaya natin hindi pinapaakyat ng ilang taon para manumbalik ang sigla ng bundok, maglakihan ang mga puno. Sayang ‘yung ilang taon na pinabayaan natin s’yang maka-recover,” Buzar said.

(The reason why for years we have prohibited mountaineers from climbing is to let the mountain recover, let the trees grow. It is regrettable that the years we allotted to let it recover have gone to waste.)

Just two days ago, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) reminded the public that Banahaw remains off limits until 2016.

Backpackers have been banned from the 2,158-meter peak since 2004 to protect its biodiversity.

Several small sects that worship at caves and springs on its lower slopes continue to have access there, though officials said there have been no reports of anyone being trapped in the fire.

Wildlife officials of the DENR told AFP Banahaw’s forests, including a 10,900-hectare protected zone, are home to scores of animal species found only in the Philippines, including a species of cloud rat discovered only in 2004.

Ivan Herzano, project officer of the non-government group Foundation for the Philippine Environment, told AFP that despite access restrictions, forest rangers lacked the capability to track all persons who may be illegally entering the protected area.

“Most likely it was a man-made fire,” he told AFP.

Hunters illegally looking for game could have lit dry litter on the forest floor by carelessly discarding cigarette butts, he added.

The foundation has recently completed a 60-hectare reforestation project on the mountain, which has protected zones that are off limits to human habitation as well as “multiple-use zones” on its lower slopes reserved for locals, Herzano added.

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