Skip to main content

Ilocos Norte forms task group to prevent forest fires

By
BURNING OF FARM WASTE IN LAOAG CITY. The Bureau of Fire Protection dubbed the number of forest fires in the first quarter this year as alarming, after these have reached 26, higher than the 21 incidents in the whole of 2023. (Lei Adriano)

By Leilanie Adriano

LAOAG CITY—An inter-agency task force has been formed in Ilocos Norte to address causes of forest fires which have reached 26 to date.

The group is composed of representatives from the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), the Philippine National Police (PNP), Philippine Marine Corps (PMC), Philippine Air Force (PAF), Philippine Army (PA), Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), and the provincial government of Ilocos Norte.

Fire Supt. Roxanne Annie Parado, provincial fire marshal, in an interview  said the task force will conduct foot patrols in the forest fire-prone areas while providing alternative source of livelihood to honey bee collectors, wildlife hunters and kaingeros (or those involved in slash and burn activities) who were earlier identified as those behind the occurrence of forest fire incidents.

“There had been an alarming number of forest fires in the first quarter of this year, which is now at 26 compared to 21 in 2023,” she said.

The forest fire-prone areas include the towns of Nueva Era, Piddig, Solsona, Vintar, Burgos, and Pasuquin.

Parado said grass fire incidents in the past five years, except for 2023, reached only one to two cases a year.

She said the task force has thus recommended the establishment of watch towers in strategic areas that will be manned by anyone from the team round the clock.

The local government of Piddig temporarily suspended the entry of campers in grassfire-prone areas such as Mount Lammin effective March 18, 2024 to help address the situation.

A helicopter bucket of the PAF is also on standby at the province to help put out grass fires in areas not accessible to fire trucks.

BFP data show that over PHP11.4 million worth of damage was recorded from the fire incidents in the first quarter of this year, lower than the PHP20.2 million in the same period last year.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Empanada festival: A celebration of good taste and good life

By
By Dominic B. dela Cruz & Leilanie G. Adriano Staff reporters BATAC CITY—If there is one thing Batac is truly proud of, it would be its famous empanada-making business that has nurtured its people over the years. Embracing a century-old culture and culinary tradition, Batac’s empanada claims to be the best and tastiest in the country with its distinctive Ilokano taste courtesy of its local ingredients: fresh grated papaya, mongo, chopped longganisa, and egg. The crispy orange wrapper and is made of rice flour that is deep-fried. The celebration of this city’s famous traditional fast food attracting locals and tourists elsewhere comes with the City Charter Day of Batac every 23 rd  of June. Every year, the City Government of Batac led by Mayor Jeffrey Jubal Nalupta commemorate the city’s charter day celebration to further promote its famous One-Town, One Product, the Batac empanada. Empanada City The Batac empanada festival has already become...
14 comments
Read more

2020 Laoag City Traffic Code

By
  Republic of the Philippines Province of Ilocos Norte CITY OF LAOAG   SANGGUNIANG PANLUNGSOD   EXCERPT FROM THE MINUTES OF THE 58 TH REGULAR SESSION OF THE 11 TH SANGGUNIANG PANLUNGSOD OF LAOAG HELD AT THE SANGGUNIANG PANLUNGSOD SESSION HALL, LAOAG CITY ON OCTOBER 14, 2020. PRESENT: 1.        Hon. Vicentito M. Lazo                                                 City Vice-Mayor/Presiding Officer Hon. Juan Conrado A. Respicio II                                              S.P....
44 comments
Read more

Marcos town celebrates 3rd Pinakbet Festival

By
MARCOS, Ilocos Norte—Taking pride of this town ’s favorite Ilo cano dish, locally known as pinakbet, a mix of indigenous vegetables steamed in fish sauce, residents here ushered the opening of the third Pinakbet festival. “Pinakbet” came from the contracted Ilokano word ‘pinakebbet ’ which means “ shrunk ” or “shriveled.” As a way of thanksgiving, the Pinakbet festival is a repository of the town ’ s “ani” [harvest] festival being celebrated every month of March but this was later moved to December to accommodate more balikbayans wanting to join the festivity. Residents in this agricultural town derived most of their income from the harvest of high value crops, including rice, tobacco and corn as staple crops. This year, the week-long festivity highlighted a grand parade around the town plaza and a pinakbet cook fest at the municipal gymnasium to showcase the best pinakbet in town. A boodle fight followed suit. Earlier, a fun run was participated by various groups ...
Post a Comment
Read more