BY: CHARLES NIKKO LIMON
From a distance, the burning mountains of Barangay Carasi in Ilocos Norte can be seen.
This was due to a forest fire in the area.
The fire was discovered by the personnel of the Community Environment and Natural Resources Office of Carasi.
The BFP and MDRRMO personnel worked together to put out the fire, but the strong winds made it a big challenge.
Since their water tanks couldn’t reach the mountain, they focused on creating fire breaks to prevent the fire from spreading.
The incident was closely monitored by the provincial government of Ilocos Norte and the Ilocos Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office to quickly control it.
To speed up the firefighting efforts, they requested help from the Philippine Air Force to control the fire.
By noon on January 31, they had managed to stop the fire from spreading.
According to the initial assessment of DENR, more than 380 hectares of forest from Barangay Virbira to Barangay Barbaquezo have burned.
The cause of the fire is still being investigated while they conduct mopping-up operations to prevent the fire from reigniting and spreading again.