Grassfire hits Chocolate Hills; high heat eyed

MANILA, Philippines — A grassfire burned two mounds of the Chocolate Hills in Bohol Tuesday night amid extreme heat experienced nationwide.

The grassfire incident occurred at 7:30 p.m. and was declared out by the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) at 10:35 p.m., Bohol Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council head Anthony Damalerio said in a radio interview.

Spontaneous combustion caused the grassfire, based on BFP’s report, “probably due to the too much heat index felt not only in Bohol but the entire Visayas region,” Damalerio noted.

The neighboring municipality of Sierra Bullones also experienced a grassfire a week ago, he recalled.

“Two hill areas were affected. The BFP concentrated the response at the feet of the hills so that it would not spread to other hills. That was the response of the BFP as they cannot climb the top of the hills. They tried to prevent the spread to other hill areas of the Chocolate Hills. After two to three hours, it was declared a fire out,” he said.

At least 22 towns in Bohol have experienced grassfires since the start of El Niño, Damalerio noted.

“The Chocolate Hills is a vast area but due to El Niño, grassfires were experienced in previous weeks and according to (the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration), the situation could drag on to June or July so we have contingency plans,” he said.

Bohol’s heat index reached as high as 42 degrees Celsius, he noted.

“As to the question of whether we have enough supply (of water), we were discussing this with all the fire stations. Our governor is very much concerned. He created a technical working group to monitor the heat index, in partnership with (the Department of Education),” he added.