Fires strike forests in 3 Pangasinan towns

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan—The mountains in three Pangasinan towns glowed bright on Thursday night due to simultaneous fires that destroyed 140 hectares of forest and grass lands, environment officials said on Friday.
Celso Salazar, community environment and natural resources officer in Dagupan City, said 45 ha of forest were razed in two mountain villages in Bugallon town and another 90 ha of forest burned in a village in neighboring Labrador town.
Fire also struck a mountain village in San Manuel town, where 5 ha of grass land were razed.
The Bugallon fire started at 1 p.m. on Thursday after a group of bamboo gatherers failed to extinguish the bonfire they set off to cook lunch in Barangay (village) Hacienda. The fire easily ate the dried grasses and trees in the village, razing about 10 ha of forest.
Salazar said the fire crossed to neighboring Barangay Laguit Padilla, where it torched 35 ha of forest and grass land.
Firemen and forest rangers put off the fire around 10 p.m.
As the Bugallon fire raged, another fire broke out in Labrador at 4 p.m.
Salazar said the fire was ignited by dried leaves which were burning in a private lot in Barangay Poblacion.
Smoke rising from the mountains was still visible on Friday noon.

In San Manuel, fire burned 5 ha of cogon grass at Sitio Lower Lilac in Barangay San Roqué. The area is just a few hundred meters from the San Roque Dam.
The fire broke out at 6:30 p.m. and was put under control after two hours.
Since January this year, 24 fires have been recorded in Central Pangasinan, Salazar said. The hot weather and strong winds contributed to the high fire incidence, he said. RAM/rga

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