An official of the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) is advising the public to refrain from throwing cigarette butts on dry grass.

Senior Insp. Douglas Zabala, BFP assistant district fire marshal, issued the advice Tuesday as fire destroyed some 10 hectares of grass, bushes, and trees in upland Barangay Muti here.

Zabala said the grass fire started around 9 a.m. Monday on the property of Hadji Julmari Waning and rapidly spread to the adjacent lots in the agricultural community.

Zabala said the firemen from the sub-station in Barangay Quiniput led by Senior Fire Officer 2 (SFO2) Jose Estrada responded to the fire call but was confronted with difficulties since their firetruck cannot reach the mountainous terrain.

He said the fire continued until 4 p.m. Monday due to strong winds and dry vegetation brought about by a prolonged drought. He said the case investigator has yet to determine to cause of the fire.

“We still do not know the cause of the fire, but it could be possible that someone threw a cigarette butt that started the fire or somebody was making “kaingin (swidden farming)”. We are still investigating the incident,” he said.

He said no one was hurt nor houses destroyed during the incident. (PNA)