Fire razes 45 hectares in scenic Ilocos town

FIRE razes mountain in Solsona, Ilocos Norte March 17. – BFP Ilocos Norte photo

 

By Vince Jacob Visaya

SOLSONA, Ilocos Norte -- Firefighters and disaster risk reduction workers are battling forest fires that have continued to recur in villages in this scenic town since March 17.
    The Solsona Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office workers reported in the office's social media accounts that they responded and put out the fires raging in 45 hectares of forests in Sta. Ana, Catangraran and Manalpac villages in Solsona.
    Causes of the fires are yet to be known, but thrown cigarette butts and burning of farm wastes anywhere in the areas were pinpointed as possible culprits.
    Dingras and Marcos towns, two neighboring areas of Solsona, have been helping douse the fires.
    The Philippine Air Force also helped by spraying water through "helibuckets" or helicopter buckets.
    In the past weeks, the Ilocos Norte Provincial Fire Station and Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council recorded that 23 hectares had been razed by grass fires in Solsona, Batac City, Vintar, Sarrat, Currimao, Marcos, Banna, Piddig and Paoay, all in Ilocos Norte.
    Lack of equipment and the wide area where the fires are raging have delayed operations in putting out the fires, the fire station reported. Other firefighters used agricultural backpack sprayers to put out the fires.
    Fire Chief Inspector Claire Simbol, Ilocos Norte fire marshal, suggested in a radio interview that there is a need to install communication and radio towers in the mountains and put water tanks in strategic locations.
    She noted that 50 fires were recorded from January to February, from the 17 recorded in 2022 in the same months.
    Simbol said the "strong and variable direction" of winds around the Solsona view deck fanned the fires while dried cogon grasses and pine trees aggravated them.
    A forest fire also razed a part of the mountains along Solsona-Apayao road in Ilocos Norte on February 25 this year.