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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Stop open burning, DENR tells villagers around Apo

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The Department of Environment and Natural Resources is urging communities around Mt. Apo to help prevent exacerbating fire woes in this mountain by avoiding open burning as much as possible.

DENR’s Forest Protection Section chief Raul Briz said fire from open burning can spread to upper portions of Mt. Apo, worsening problems already created by the blaze there at present.

“Prevention is still the best defense against future fires,” he said.

He noted spread of fire from open burning is very possible due to wind and dry conditions in the area, he noted.

“Fire there will be difficult to control once it spreads,” he said.

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During the weekend, reports surfaced about fire razing the upper part of Mt. Apo.

Briz said DENR already deployed personnel concerned to monitor the fire.

The fire already razed some 100 hectares of grassland in Mt. Apo, he said, citing initial feedback relayed to him Monday by a community environment and natural resources officer having jurisdiction over a village at the foot of Mt. Apo.

It takes hours of walking to reach Mt. Apo’s upper portion so manually bringing water there to put out the ongoing fire is a difficult and almost impossible task, he noted.

DENR has no water bombers for aerial firefighting.

According to Briz, the ongoing fire in Mt. Apo might be due to disposal there of either charred wood used in cooking or cigarettes smoked in the area.

“There’s no natural fire in the Philippines,” he said.

Fire due to lightning strikes is unlikely as rain quenches sparks on the ground, he noted.

“Mountain fires nationwide are 99.9 percent man-made,” he said.

Authorities identified Mt. Apo as the Philippines’ highest peak with an elevation of 3,143.6 meters above sea level.

Mt. Apo is the main attraction of Mt. Apo Natural Park which straddles parts of regions XI and XII.

RA 9237 (Mt. Apo Protected Area Act of 2003) established Mt. Apo as a protected area under the category of a natural park to secure its protection and conservation.

The law also established Mt. Apo’s peripheral area as buffer zones.

All activities including open burning are banned inside Mt. Apo except in the multi-use area where some activities are permitted, noted Briz.

Mt. Apo Natural Park’s total buffer zone covers about 9,078 hectares, DENR also said.

Open burning is likewise banned there and in forestland outside such zone, Briz continued.

He noted DENR approval is still needed for open burning in titled private pasture land outside the buffer zone. PNA

 

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