5-DAY FIRE RAVAGES ITOGON FOREST
ITOGON, Benguet: More than a thousand hectares of forest were ravaged by a 5-day fire that was allegedly triggered by an unattended burning of debris along Philex road in Sitio Bumolo, Barangay Ampucao here.
However, the Itogon fire station and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources have yet to come out with a definite figure on the extent of damage inflicted in the forest by the fire that started on January 18 and declared under control only on Monday, January 22.
Firefighters and volunteers from Baguio and Benguet had difficulty in containing the fire that rapidly spread towards the forest due to the prevailing dry spell caused by the ongoing El Nino phenomenon.
It took the air assets of the Philippine Air Force that conducted aerial fire suppression operations in the affected area before the fire was contained.
The Philex Mining Corp. clarified that no company employees or workers have conducted a cleanup drive along Philex road since it is already outside its premises.
In a statement, Philex claimed that there is no truth to earlier reports that suggest that a cleanup drive along the said road allegedly conducted by company employees was the cause of the 5-day forest fire in the area after they allegedly ignited the dried grass and bushes.
The company pointed out that it was the residents outside the Philex premises who performed the cleanup drive in the said area acting on their regular civic duty as residents and part of their preparations for the celebration of the 63rd feast of the Sto. Niño de Prague who happens to be their patron saint.
Reports also alleged that after starting the burning of the collected grass and bushes, they failed to closely manage the burning materials in the afternoon of January 18.
At around 6:30 p.m. of the same day, a staff from the company’s main entrance gate was informed by an incoming former employee riding a motorcycle that a bush fire was in progress at the mountain slope along the Philex road which is outside its jurisdiction.
The alarm button was immediately sent out to the firm’s security and safety office which immediately deployed the initial wave of responders to the area to suppress the fire at around 7 p.m.
Philex’s fire safety team, together with the personnel from the Police Community Precinct near the area where the fire started, conducted mapping up operations in the area affected until fire out was declared at around 8:30 p.m. by the said team.
Philex stated that the same team discovered that the forest fire rekindled when the members went back to the area for routine inspection, thus, entire company fire safety personnel worked out to suppress the said fire.
The Itogon Fire Station declared the forest fire under control at around noon of January 22 and that investigation is still underway on the cause of the incident that damaged practically the entire forested area surrounding the mine camp.