Baguio’s pine forests threatened by fire

BAGUIO CITY — This city’s firefighters are on their toes these days. The reason: brush fires have been threatening the remaining pine forests here almost on a daily basis.

And authorities bewail that lighted cigarette butts carelessly thrown at grassy fires have caused most of the blazes.

At 4 p.m. yesterday, volunteer firefighters responded to a distress call about a fire in progress along Camp 7 in Barangay Youngland. The previous day, several pine trees were razed in Imelda Village.

On Wednesday afternoon, another fire snaked through 3,000 square meters of grass and forest land in Barangay Bakekeng Sur, destroying at least 300 pine trees.

The affected area, authorities said, belongs to the Brothers of Charity’s San Lorenzo Ruiz Institution which looks after disabled and retarded children.

The worst blaze this week occurred last Monday, affecting 25 hectares of forest land from Kadaclan Village to the cemetery at Camp John Hay. Building 6 of John Hay, in the vicinity of the Voice of America, was reduced to ashes.

The rash of forest fires has prompted city officials to form community-based firefighting units to respond to distress calls.