A grass fire broke out at the Taal Volcano Island last Tuesday afternoon, affecting one of the monitoring stations of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs).
In a statement on Tuesday night, Phivolcs said the fire broke out at the southeast portion of the island, “directly affecting” the Binintiang Munti Observation Station.
It said the IP (internet protocol) cameras of the station and a nearby monitoring station showed the fire broke out at 11:24 a.m.
It added that the Binintiang Munti monitoring station had been affected by similar grass fires before, including March 3, 2023 and on May 2 last year.
“Philvocs is closely monitoring the situation and is coordinating with the disaster risk reduction and management offices (DRRMC) of Batangas province,” said Phivolcs.
The Office of Civil Defense Calabarzon said the grass fire broke out some 400 meters from the Phivolcs’ Binintiang Munti monitoring station.
It said it has coordinated with the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), and the San Nicolas Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office in assessing the situation at the island.
Yesterday, Philvolcs announced that BFP Calabarzon declared a fire out at 9:05 a.m.
Mariton Bornas, chief of Philvolcs’ volcano monitoring and eruption prediction division, said “human activities” may have caused the fire.
“Unfortunately, it was most likely caused by human activities. However, the BFP and, Coast Guard at the municipal DRRM council are conducting an investigation to determine what really caused the fire,” said Bornas.
The fire melted the housing of the IP camera of the Binintiang Munti monitoring station. “But the camera is intact,” she Bornas, adding that the Phivolcs equipment in an area that is secured by a concrete fence was spared.
“If the fire reached the area, this could have damaged almost P8 million worth of scientific equipment inside our station. This equipment are very important in monitoring the volcano,” said Bornas.
