A FOREST fire that broke out in Barangay Bato, Sibonga, southern Cebu was extinguished at 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday, May 22, 2024 or approximately 23 hours after it started at around 10:30 a.m. of the previous day.
Fire Officer 1 Jasper Reponte, investigator of the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) in Sibonga said, in an interview with Superbalita, that it took almost a day to put out the fire due to some difficulties entering the area. The rain that later poured helped saved the day.
According to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), the area that burned had several trees such as mahogany and tugas.
It is estimated that the fire damage in the 30 hectares of forest has reached more than P200,000.
The BFP is still continuing its investigation into the origin of the blaze that started as a grass fire but reached the woods.
Last April, Sibonga’s neighboring town of Argao was also hit by grass fires due to extreme heat caused by the weather phenomenon, El Niño.
Mandaue
Meanwhile, up to P280,000 worth of properties were damaged by fire that struck three puroks in Barangay Basak, Mandaue City on Thursday, May 23
Around 44 houses in Purok Alliance, Purok Santan and Purok Saging-saging were destroyed by the fire that left 94 families or 375 individuals homeless.
The number of partially damaged houses are still being determined by fire investigators.
Senior Fire Officer 1 Shanmie Bryan Bocado, the chief investigator of Mandaue Fire Station, said in an interview with SunStar Cebu that the fire broke out at 11:54 a.m. and placed under control at
12:37 p.m.
According to Bocado, no one was reported injured during the incident.
Bocado said an inquiry is being conducted to determine what caused the fire. / DVG, TPT