Fire razes 50-ha portion of Mt. San Cristobal

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is investigating the cause of fire that razed a portion of Mt. San Cristobal in Quezon province Tuesday.

DENR’s Biodiversity Management Bureau director Mundita Lim though said they are initially looking at “human intervention” behind the fire that destroyed a 50-hectare portion of Mt. San Cristobal in Dolores, Quezon.

Lim quoted a report that the fire started at 2 p.m. Tuesday, affecting grassland and cogonal areas on the mountain.

DENR-Region 4-A executive director Reynulfo Juan agreed with Lim, saying those doing “kaingin (slash-and-burn farming)” could have caused the fire in the area.

A fire also destroyed a 90-hectare portion of Mt. San Cristobal in San Pablo City last March 19, at about the same time that a fire razed through a 50-hectare portion of Mt. Banahaw.

Juan reminded the public, especially pilgrims, that res-trictions are still enforced on Mt. Banahaw, and these may be extended indefinitely.

Juan said the areas declared off-limits as early as March 9, 2004 will remain as “restricted areas and maybe extended further.”

Juan, who heads the Mounts Banahaw-San Cristobal Protected Landscape-Protected Area Management Board, supported the observation of the Bureau of Fire Protection that the fires could not be due to “spontaneous combustion” even with dry grass.

He said trekkers who insisted on going to the restricted site and were able to evade rangers of the protected area could be the culprits. – With Michelle Zoleta