Grass fires eat up 377 hectares in General Santos City

GENERAL SANTOS CITY – The Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) has raised the alarm over the increasing number of grass fires here since last month which it said affected some 377 hectares of grass lands and farm areas.

Senior Fire Officer 3 Rey Allan Imperio, operations chief of the BFP station here, said they have already responded to at least 17 grass fires since last month in several outlying barangays. He said most of the affected areas were located in Barangays Sinawal, Fatima, Apopong, Calumpang, Tambler, and Mabuhay.

Imperio said no casualty has been reported and no structure had been affected by these incidents, which appeared to be human-induced and not due to natural causes. Among those damaged by the grass fires were a 20-hectare sugarcane plantation and a 30-hectare farm in barangays Sinawal and Apopong.

Portions of the city international airport were also hit by a major grass fire more than a week ago that affected several inbound and outbound flights. “It’s really important for everyone to be more cautious as there is a big chance that major grass fire could occur because of the prevailing intense dry weather caused by the El Niño phenomenon,” he said.

He urged residents, especially landowners and farmers, to avoid using fire when clearing their lands and in disposing of garbage.

Imperio said they should not leave burning fields unattended and make sure that the fire would not spread to other areas. Citing most of the recent grass fires, he said they started in just a small area and rapidly spread due to the strong winds.

The fire officer urged barangay councils to closely monitor the situation in their areas and assign members of their peacekeeping teams as responders during grass fires. Imperio noted that the city fire station has five serviceable fire trucks only and at least 30 firemen. “We’re doing everything to respond to all fire-related incidents but we really need the help of more community volunteers,” he said. (With a report from Mindanao Examiner.)

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