Fire razes over 100 hectares of Mt. Banahaw – reports

Fire has razed over a hundred hectares of forest and grasslands on Mount Banahaw in Quezon province, GMA News reported Wednesday evening via tweets of radio dzBB and evening newscast State of the Nation (SONA).

Reporting from Quezon, GMA News stringer Peewee Bacunio said the fire has not yet been addressed or placed under control.
 

UPDATE: Hindi pa rin naaapula ang nasusunog na bahagi ng Mt. Banahaw. Lagpas 100 ektarya, natupok | Peewee Bacunio, @gmanews Stringer Quezon

— DZBB Super Radyo (@dzbb) March 19, 2014

GMA News' SONA newscast said local disaster response officials are preparing response measures to address the fire and protect communites on or near the fabled mountain. The fire reportedly began around 2:00 p.m.  Firefighters have been unable to get near the fire and have positioned themselves outside towns that could be in the path of the blaze.



Against the darkness, the fire seems like a lava flow from a distance, based on a photo sent in by YouScooper Jake Magboo in Quezon.
 

Forest fire in a portion at Mt. Banahaw. YouScooper Jake describes the fire like a lava flowing down the mountain. pic.twitter.com/drPrR6EH7Q

— YouScoop (@YouScoop) March 19, 2014

 — ELR, GMA News