More than 550 hectares wiped out by Aberdare forest fire
Sections of the Aberdare National Park burning.
More than 550 hectares of the Aberdare forest have been destroyed by a fire that started on Saturday night.
The inferno, suspected to have been started by arsonists, has affected the moorland on the Northern part of the Aberdare in Eburru area.
Speaking to the Nation, Kenya Forest Service (KFS) head of Conservancy in the Central Highlands, Mr Samule Ihure, said they were still battling the fire on Monday morning.
He said the local community, with the help of forest rangers and officers from conservation groups, had managed to put out three of the five fires.
“By Monday morning only two fires were remaining. One has so far gone out on its own leaving only one that is currently being managed by firefighters,” he said.
Mount Kenya Trust Executive Director, Ms Susie Weeks, said the fires which started separately at the moorlands had not spread to other regions.
35 firefighters were airlifted to the site by Tropic Air to help in the operation.
According to Ms Weeks, putting out the fire had become difficult because of the heat and windy afternoons that helped spread the inferno.
“In the beginning, there was inadequate human resource that was battling the fire but currently different groups have come in and we hope to put it out by the end of the day,” she said.
