MAGALANG, Pamp. -- Provincial Fire Marshall Emmanuel M. Arrozal said a fire that lasted for more than six hours hit the more than 25-hectare forest land of Mount Arayat the other day.

He said the forest fire has been raised to the 4^th alarm, as it damaged about a six-kilometer radius of the mountain.

It was learned that the fire -- which started around six in the evening -- affected the forest area near Barangay Ayala, a village at the foot of the mountain.

In an interview with Arrozal, he said firemen in this town had only received reports about the incident near Barangay Ayala around 6:00 pm the other day.

However, due to potholed roads, the firemen were not able to reach the area on time. The fire trucks could also not manage to get near the area of the fire.

Arrozal explained that should the firemen have managed to reach the affected area, it would also be hard for them to control the fire because they could not reload the water tanks.

According to the reports from the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), the fire lasted until 11:00 pm because of the cold climate.
Arrozal said “kaingin” is the main source of livelihood of those living near the fire incident.

“Posible na ang pinagmulan ng sunog ay ang pagka-karbon doon o
pag-gawa ng uling,” the fire officer said.

Fire authorities said it was not the first time that a forest fire occurred in the area. However, they consider the last incident as the biggest.

Arrozal suggested that residents in villages near the mountain should be assigned as forest rangers and be trained on how to control fire so as to avert this kind of incident in the future.

Firemen said there were no reported casualties. They are still estimating the number of destroyed trees in the area.