Grass fire hits 4-hectare lot in Naga

CEBU, Philippines —  A massive grass fire, believed to have been caused by extremely hot weather, broke out in a mountainous area in Barangay Naalad, City of Naga, Cebu on Friday, May 1.

According to the initial investigation of the City of Naga Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), the blaze covered about four hectares of a lot publicly owned by a construction corporation.

The fire alarm was reported to the authorities around 4:50 p.m. after receiving a call from the city’s Disaster and Risk Reduction and Management Office, prompting firefighters to immediately respond. At 5:06 p.m., they declared the fire under control after reaching a safe distance from the fire scene.

By 12:50 a.m. on Saturday, May 2, the grass fire eventually died out on its own after lasting for about eight hours, authorities said.

Fire Officer 2 Alvin Curtina, fire investigator for the city, said that during their initial monitoring while the fire was still ongoing, it was fortunate that the fire scene was far from the residential area of the barangay.

He added that there were no reports of individuals being injured or houses being burned in the incident.

Yesterday morning, a follow-up on-site inspection was conducted by the City of Naga BFP, along with several officials from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) - CENRO in Argao to assess the extent of the damage.

Curtina said further investigation showed that the grass fire was first noticed by a security guard hired by the said construction corporation, but he initially ignored it because he thought someone was burning something.

The investigator also determined that the intense heat on the afternoon of May 1 may have started to burn the dry leaves.

“Sa pag-conduct namo og investigation karong adlawa, ang probable cause of fire niya is ang init sa adlaw kay ang mga grass nga naa didto kay sa mga cogon man to,” said Curtina in an interview yesterday (May 2).

“Tungod sa kainit sa adlaw, atong mga alas 4 nga iyang nabantayan posible nato sa mga alas 3 nag-start na to siya og aso. Nidako lang to ang aso mga alas 4 unya gibaliwala ra niya,” he added.

When asked if it was possible that someone threw a cigarette butt that set the dry leaves on fire, Curtina said that this was impossible because it was also impossible for a person to pass through the area.

“Dili pod ko kaingon nga naay nilabay didto (nga upos sa sigarilyo) kay pag-conduct namo sa investigation, dili man masudlan og tao gud. Kung naa pod maglabay layo pod kaayo kay habog man,” he said.

Curtina also explained that responding firefighters were unable to get close to the scene of the fire because it was near a cliff, leaving them with the option of simply monitoring it.

“Pag-abot sa mga bombero, ila nalang gi-monitor kay bisan unsaon man nila og tuyok ug bisan asa sila agi, wala gyud silay kasudlan kay pangpang man gud siya ug lisod siya sudlon,” he said.

He added that the firefighters and inspectors from DENR were unable to get close to the actual scene of the fire so they just flew a drone camera to survey the aftermath, which, he said, left an estimated damage of P500. — (FREEMAN)