ITOGON, Benguet – More than a thousand hectares of forest was ravaged by a 5-day fire that was allegedly triggered by an unattended burning along Philex road, particularly in sitio Bumolo, barangay Ampucao here.
However, the Itogon fire station and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) have yet to come out with a definite figure on the extent of damage that was inflicted by the forest fire that started on January 18 and declared under control only on January 22, 2024.
Firefighters and volunteers from Baguio and Benguet had a difficulty in containing the fire because it rapidly spread towards the forest considering the prevailing dry spell caused by the ongoing El Nino phenomenon.
It took the air assets of the Philippine Air Force that conducted aerial fire suppression operations in the affected area before the fire was contained.
The Philex Mining Corporation clarified that no company employees or workers have conducted a cleanup drive along Philex road since it is already outside its premises.
In a statement, Philex claimed that there is no truth to earlier reports that suggest that company employees while doing cleanup drive along the said road were the ones who caused the 5-day forest fire in the area after they allegedly ignited the dried grass and bushes.
The company pointed out that in fact, it was the residents outside the Philex premises who performed the cleanup drive in the said area acting on their regular civic duty as residents and part of their preparations for the celebration of the 63rd feast of the Sto. Nino de Prague who happens to be their patron saint.
Further, after allegedly starting the burning of the collected grass and bushes, they failed to closely manage the burning materials in the afternoon of January 18, 2024.
At around 6:30 pm of the same day, a staff from the company’s main entrance gate was informed by an incoming former employee riding a motorcycle that a bushfire is in progress at the mountain slope along the Philex road which is outside its jurisdiction and immediately, the alarm button was sent to the firm’s security and safety office which immediately deployed the initial wave of responders to the area to suppress the fire at around 7 pm.
Philex’s fire safety team, together with the personnel from the Police Community Precinct near the area where the fire started, conducted mapping up operations in the area affected until the fire out was declared at around 8:30 pm by the said team.
Moreover, the fire was already under control when the firefighting team from the Itogon fire station arrived in the area.
Philex stated that the same team discovered that the forest fire rekindled when the members went back to the area for routine inspection, thus, entire company fire safety personnel worked out to suppress the said fire.
The Itogon fire station declared the forest fire under control at around noon of January 22, 2024 and that investigation is still underway on the cause of the said incident that damaged practically the entire forested area surrounding the mine camp. By Dexter A. See
