Firelines established in Oro upland barangays

• Source:http://www.sunstar.com.ph/cagayan-de-oro/local-news/2016/04/12/firelines-established-oro-upland-barangays-467609
• Wednesday, April 13, 2016

By Pamela Jay F. Orias

TO PROTECT the six city watersheds from a fire breakout, the Cagayan de ORo City Local Environment and Natural Resources Office (Clenro) started building fire breaks in some hinterland barangays on Tuesday.

City environment officials are set to build fire breaks along the Carmen, Malasag, Balubal, Bugo, Agusan, and Iponan river watersheds as a precautionary measure to avoid forest fires.

The Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP)-Northern Mindanao has earlier recorded about 102 cases of grassfires in the city for March alone.

All these incidents are attributed to the intense heat brought by the El Niño weather phenomenon.

Clenro head Edwin Dael said they are prioritizing the 4,000-hectare watershed area of the Iponan River.

Dael said 1.6 kilometer fire breaks were built on Tuesday at barangays Mambuaya, Bayanga, Lumbia, Tablon, and Balubal.

Construction of the fire lines, Dael said, would largely be done by farmers and residents under the City Social Welfare and Development’s (CSWD) Food for Work program.

For 32 working days, a group of workers will be given five sacks of rice.

"In a way, this is an aid for the upland residents, most specifically our farmers na hangtud karon naghulat pa gihapon na ma-declare ang state of calamity," he said.

Dael noted that the said program would have been covered by the calamity fund which the City Council has yet to approve.

Parts of FS Catanico, Baikingon, San Simon, Pagalungan, Tagpangi, Taglimao, Tuburan, Pigsag-an, Ugiaban, and Tignapoloan are the next target areas where fire lines would be established.