LA CASTELLANA, Negros Occidental—The fire raging near the crater of Mt. Kanlaon on Negros Island has destroyed about 400 hectares of grassland.
But Supt. Rodolfo Dinaga, Negros Occidental provincial fire marshal, said the grass fires were already manageable as Mt. Kanlaon had been calm since Tuesday night when it released ash, fiery rocks and other incandescent materials.
Residents of this town went about their business as they were already used to the volcano’s intermittent minor eruptions.
Dinaga, who heads the unified command post tasked to put out the blaze, said 69 personnel from the Bureau of Fire Protection, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, provincial government and other local government units were swatting the fire out to prevent it from reaching forest land, which was located about four kilometers away.
He said 37 other personnel were placed on standby to augment those putting out the blaze.
The fire on the 300-ha grassland on the La Castellana side of the volcano was caused by materials spewed during the eruption on Tuesday night while the adjacent 100-ha fire was suspected to have been caused by trekkers who illegally entered the park on Holy Week.
Five of the trekkers had been identified based on a Facebook post, said Negros Occidental provincial environment and natural resources officer Andres Untal.
Of the five, one is from Cebu City, while the rest are from Canlaon City, including a local guide.
He declined to identify the five since the charges to be filed against them were being studied.
Untal said the fire caused alarm because it might reach forest land but, fortunately, the moist soil helped prevent the blaze from creeping forward.
Dinaga said he and his team swatted the fire to put it out and so far, their strategy was working.
The men working to put out the blaze were within the 4-km danger zone but were granted permission to go forward, said Mari-Andylene Quintia of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) station in La Carlota City.
The 8 a.m. advisory of Phivolcs on Thursday warned that more minor eruptions could still occur.
Four volcanic earthquakes and a long tremor have been recorded in the past 24 hours, according to the advisory.
The ongoing tremor was accompanied by a weak to moderate steaming at the active vent, producing a 700-meter high steam and ash plume that drifted south-southwest.
Traces of light ash intermittently fell on Barangay Sag-angin in La Castellana, Barangays Ara-al and Yubo in La Carlota, and Barangay Ilijan in Bago City, Phivolcs reported.
A slight inflation of the Kanlaon edifice has been noted since December 2015.
Alert Level 1 raised by Phivolcs on Nov. 24 remains in effect over Mt. Kanlaon, which means it is currently in a state of unrest probably driven by hydrothermal processes that can generate more minor eruptions.
Entry into the volcano’s 4-km radius permanent danger zone is still prohibited due to the possibility of sudden hazardous steam-driven minor ash eruptions, she added. RC