Dry spell causes bush fire on Mayon

LEGAZPI CITY, Philippines – The dry spell, which started as early as January, triggered a bush fire Tuesday night on the slope of Mayon volcano.

The bush fire on the volcano’s northern portion in Barangay Buyuan here, raged until yesterday morning, according to Jukes Nuñez, operation officer of the Albay Provincial Security and Emergency Management Office. “We are closely monitoring the situation,” Nuñez told The STAR.

“I thought Mayon volcano had started to heat up,” said Ed Laguerta, resident volcanologist at the Lignon Hill Observatory at Mayon, which is still at alert level one.

Laguerta said the bush fire’s reflection on the upper portion of Mayon volcano forced him to go to as far as Barangay Padang.

He said even Albay Gov. Joey Salceda, co-chairman of the Green Climate Fund for the Pacific who is still in Korea presiding over a forum there, called him up about the bush fire.

Laguerta said the bush fire occurred at the lava flow deposited by the volcano during its 1993 eruption.

“It’s still within the six-kilometer permanent danger zone which is off-limits to human activity,” he said.

Laguerta said the bush fire did not threaten residential areas in Barangay Buang, which is about eight kilometers from the volcano.

Mayor Noel Rosal said the bush fire was declared out at 7:30 a.m. yesterday.