Fire destroys Malaybalay forestland

MALAYBALAY, Bukidnon — The onslaught of El Niño has triggered wild fires that destroyed part of the forestland in hinterland barangays in this city, the City Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) reported on Tuesday.

City Mayor Jay Warren Pabillaran said in a statement that based on CENRO reports from 2 February to 10 April last week, a total of 400 hectares of forest and land were burned.

He said the city has experienced the very dry and hot weather conditions that triggered the fire outbreak incidents and based on the investigation the forest fires were human-caused, particularly among mountain dwellers that expanded their farmlands by open burning that spread out to the nearby forests.

He said since 2022, the City Government has taken proactive measures for forest fire prevention and preparedness by hiring 50 forest firefighters / forest patrollers.

“Our forest firefighters are volunteers before and the City Government equipped them with trainings on basic first aid technique, forest fires and safety, protocol on radio messaging, handling of hand tools for fire suppression, endurance tests, and provided them with protective personnel equipment, and other supplies for forest firefighting.” he said.

He said last year, the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council allocated an amount of P1 million for the provision of protective personal equipment of the forest firefighters in preparation for the El Niño phenomenon.

The fire preparedness program of the city was able to combat the forest fires, to protect approximately 12,263.39 hectares of forests and forestlands in Barangay 1, Can-ayan, Casisang, Kalasungay, Patpat and Sumpong.

Pabillaran said around 3.26 percent of forests in these areas has been damaged by the recent forest fires.

“The city hired additional 20 forest firefighters just this month to reinforce our manpower in forest firefighting and allocated an amount of P5 million for the procurement of a stand-by vehicle of forest firefighters, field ration, trainings, personnel protective equipment, insurance and their other needs,” Pabillaran said.