Leyte town gets P13M fire truck from Korea's firefighting group

ALANG-ALANG, LEYTE, Philippines  — The Korea Federation of Fire Association (KFFA) is set to turn over today (August 30) to the local government of this town in Leyte a newly refurbished fire truck, worth P13 million, at the Central Office of the Bureau of Fire Protection.

Mayor Loreto Yu said the donation will boost his town’s fire fighting capability as it only has one fire truck that he described as “old.”

Yu said the acquisition of new fire truck is part of the Sustainable Use and Protection of Philippine Peatlands Project, which is being implemented in the country by the DENR.

The National Action Plan on Peatlands was drafted within the framework of the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Peatland Management Strategy. 

There are two areas in the Philippines where substantial areas of peat are located: the Agusan Marsh and the Leyte Sab-a Basin.

The Sab-a Basin, within the areas of Alang-alang and Santa Fe towns, is a west-east elongated basin close to the north coast of Leyte separated from it by a metamorphic ridge. The total area is 3,088 hectares, 44 percent of which has been reclaimed for agriculture.

The remaining unutilized peatland (1,740 ha) in the eastern half of the basin consists of small remnant areas of swamp forest and sedge/grass peat swamp. The two smaller peat basins in the area—Daguitan (210 ha) and Kapiwaran (430 ha)—have mostly been converted to agricultural land.

Occurrence of wildfires, often caused by agricultural activity by local people in protected peat swamp forests, both on and below the surface, is among the threats in the sustainability of peatlands.

The fire truck donation from Korea will help the local government contain such occurrences.     THE FREEMAN