LA CASTELANA, Negros Occidental—The fire raging near the crater of Mount Kanlaon on Negros Island destroyed about 400 hectares of grassland.
But Supt. Rodolfo Dinaga, Negros Occidental provincial fire marshal, said the grass fires were already manageable especially that Mount Kanlaon had been calm since Tuesday night when it released ash and 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 firefighters were trying to prevent the blaze from reaching forest land about 4 km away.
The fire on the 300 ha of grassland on the La Castellana side of the volcano was caused by materials spewed during the eruption on Tuesday night.