LINGAYEN—This one is for the Ripley’s “Believe it or not.” Pangasinan has 134,418 hectares of forestland and it has only 20 forest rangers to guard and protect them.

Leduina Co, provincial environment and natural resources officer, who was among the officials invited by the provincial board to its Question Hour Monday on forest fires, confirmed this when she was quizzed by provincial officials.

The towns of Aguilar and Natividad were the latest hit by forest fires.

Effectively, one forest ranger has to guard about 5,000 hectares of forestland.

Aggravating the situation for the province is the absence of equipment to put out forest fires particularly in areas that could not be reached by fire trucks, Co told the board.

She recalled that in the past, a helicopter under the defunct Bureau of Forest Development was made available to stop forest fire.

After Co’s briefing, the board members agreed to provide funds for the hiring of more forest rangers.

“That is the answer to the prayer we had been waiting for,” Co said.

Co also clarified that the affected area in the 16-hour forest fire that hit Natividad town on Black Saturday covered 30 hectares only, not 100 hectares as earlier reported by the media.

To date, Co said about 207 hectares of forestland where thousands of seeds been planted had been razed by fire. The damage, she said severely affects the province’s efforts in restoring the vegetative covers.

Also present at the inquiry were officials of local councils, police stations, Bureau of Fire Protection, and local disaster and risk reduction councils.

Board Member Alfonso Bince Jr. who initiated the probe said the provincial board will study possible legislative initiatives to check the increasing recurrence of forest fire but one thing is certain, a budget will be provided for the hiring of more guards. (Tita Roces / Johanne Macob)

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