REGIONAL FOREST FIRE MANAGEMENT PLAN

CY 2017
I. RATIONALE

Forest fire is one of the common cause of forest destruction in the region. It usually occurs in
open areas particularly in brush and grass lands where our reforestation projects are
established and it is a recurrent problem during early years. Since CY 2011, National
Greening Projects has been implemented in the region and these areas are vulnerable to
occurrence of fire. If not properly addressed, millions of pesos will be lost due to said
incidence. Hence, there is a need for this plan to effectively managed our reforestation
projects from occurrence of fire.
This plan is aimed to reduce, if not totally stopped the forest fire incidence in the region
through effective fire prevention, preparedness, detection and quick response.
II. THE PROJECT AREA

1. General Description:
The Cagayan Valley or Region 02 is located in the north eastern part of Luzon. It
is bounded in the East by Sierra Madre Mountain, in the West by Cordillera
Mountain and Caraballo Mountain in the south and Pacific Ocean in the north.
The total land area of the region is 2,683,758 hectares which is about nine percent
of the total land area of the country. With these 965,965 hectares of 36 percent are
alienable and disposable land and 1,717,793 or 64 percent are forest lands, which
were further classified into protection and production forests. Aside from tenurial
instruments, agreements and permits issued within the 909,014.98 hectares
production forest, a total of 76,977.05 hectares were converted into National
Greening Program (NGP) from CY 2011 to 2016 and additional 16,121 hectares
NGP were targeted for 2017. These NGP areas are vulnerable to fire incidence
particularly in the Provinces of Nueva Vizcaya, Isabela and Quirino where large
areas were usually rage by fire during dry season. There are also recorded fire
incidence occurring in the provinces of Batanes and Cagayan.
The Cagayan Valley region has five (5) PENROs and thirteen (13) CENROs and
three (3) PENRO Sub-Offices.

2. Physical Description with Regards to Fire Problem:

Forest fire usually occurs in brush/grass lands particularly during summer season
(March to May). The common causes of fire was due to kaingin making, burning
agricultural wastes, honeybee/egg ant hunting, negligence in throwing cigarette butts,
cogon gathering and range preparation. The extent of damage caused by fire incidence
is lost of millions in the cost of establishment of NGP and other similar projects.

3. History of Fire in the Area, Causes of Fire Occurrences and Extent of Damages.

3. Human Population and their Influence or Outlook to the Fire Problem.

  What are the general age class, gender distribution, sources of income, and their
perception of fire problem in the area?
Generally, the populace who influenced occurrence of fire are those local residents
residing adjacent to fire prone areas. They are the local farmers, kaingeneros .

 What are the formal and informal organizations?

 Who are the formal and informal leaders?
 Who are the threats and supporters?

III. MANAGEMENT OBJECTIVES

Overall Objective:

To safeguard the National Greening Program and other similar projects from the occurrence of
forest fires through effective fire prevention, preparedness, provision of full logistics, immediate
response and active involvement of communities/barangays within and bordering the area.

Specific Objectives:

1. To implement an effective fire prevention campaign that will reduce fire occurrences by 50%
for the first year, 75% for the second year and 100% for the third year.

2. To respond to any fire emergency through an effective fire detection system that will enable
the fire crew to reach any part of the protected area within 30-45 minutes upon receipt of
fire alarm.

3. To apply suppression action with well-trained and appropriately-equipped fire control

organization, including capable & committed fire suppression crews and volunteers that will
limit the fire damage to a maximum area of one (1) hectare per fire occurrence.

4. To ensure safety from all forms of harm and injury by training fire crew members and
volunteers in all aspects of forest fire control and management with emphasis on fire safety,
first aid and rescue techniques and strategies.

IV. MANAGEMENT PRESCRIPTIONS & STRATEGIES

A. FIRE PREVENTION

The fire prone areas in the region are identified to be outside old growth and residual
forest areas but in the grasslands, brush lands and wooded grassland where established old
and new plantations are located which are adjacent to the communities. Frequent causes of
forest fires are man-made and are either accidental or intentional.

Among the common causes of forest fire occur in the province are slash and burn
(Kaingin), escape fire from expired Grazing Land, gathering of Red Egg Ants, Honeybees
collection, unsystematic burning of agricultural waste and Charcoal making.

An active fire prevention program will be conducted in cooperation with BFP, POs,
LGUs and other stakeholders to protect human life, property and plantations from forest fire.
For this reason, the need to involve the public in fire prevention activities is very essential.

In order to prevent the occurrence of forest fires in these areas, the following activities
will be undertaken:
 1. Radio Plugging and guesting in the Local Radio Stations in the region focused on
forest fire prevention.

2. Attendance to Barangay assemblies and community meetings with local residents

living adjacent to discuss the importance of fire prevention

3. Conduct meetings with POs and other stakeholders to assist in the campaign on
fire prevention

4. Conduct meetings with upland farmers to refrain from burning their agricultural
waste specially those adjacent to plantations. If fire is indispensable in their
agricultural lot, technical assistance shall be extended on how to conduct controlled burning.

5. Installation of sign boards/bill boards on forest fire prevention in strategic

locations.

6. Production and distribution of pamphlets, brochures and printed materials on fire

prevention

7. Warn all Pasture Leases to observe control burning in their areas and require permit
to DENR prior burning, otherwise they shall be made liable for any incidence of fire
originating from their pasture lands.

B. FIRE PREPAREDNESS

Fire preparedness shall commence is early months of the year to ensure appropriate
strategies, response and readiness to fire suppression shall be carried out. The objective of
the preparedness effort is to have a well-trained and equipped fire management organization
capable of fire suppression. Activities include in fire preparedness are the following:

1. Creation of Regional Forest Fire Crews through issuance of Special Order

2. Identification and preparation of GIS maps of all fire prone areas.
3. Hiring of Forest Protection Officers as fire fighting crews to be deployed in fire
prone areas during the onset of dry season.
4. Conduct training and mobilization of the Forest Protection Officers, existing
Barangay Forest Protection Officers, LGUs and Pos, NGP beneficiaries who are
residing adjacent or neighboring fire prone areas.
5. Procurement of Fire fighting tools and equipments such as fire ranger, fire swatter,
fire shovel, rake hoe, scrape shovel, collapsible fire pump, grass cutter and
motorized power spray.
6. Procurement of Binoculars for easy detection of smoke causing fire
7. Purchase of base and hand held radios for faster communication. The existing 11
Base Radios and 22 Handheld Radio equipments available in the province of
Nueva Vizcaya shall be manned and redistributed to firefighting crews on
24/7 basis at the onset of dry season (March-June).
8. Forest Rangers shall be deployed to conduct regular patrolling in their respective
Patrol Sectors
9. Maintenance and mobilization of all existing motorcycles and vehicles to be made
available to firefighting crews anytime they respond on fire occurrence.
 10. Maintenance of existing fire breaks/fire lines established within plantations in the
province of Nueva Vizcaya.
11. Inventory and ensure that all firefighting equipments in field offices are in good
conditions and safe to use.
12. 24/7 forest fire hotlines shall be maintained in all PENROs/CENROs for any
report on incidence of forest fire in their respective territorial jurisdictions

C. FIRE DETECTION

It is coincidental that most of the identified fire prone areas are within and adjacent to
our National Greening Program (NGP) plantations. The proximity of these sites to the
communities makes it vulnerable to the occurrence of forest fires. The expected long dry
season will be a major factor in crafting our strategy to control or prevent the occurrence of
forest fires. Likewise, the participation and involvement of residents of the communities
adjacent to these areas are indispensable.

The following activities must be implemented to ensure early detection of forest fire
occurrences.

1. Construction and manning of 16 Look Out Towers established in strategic

location identified by each CENROS on a 24/7 hour basis
2. Regular patrolling of all Forest Rangers together with IT personnel and conduct
aerial surveillance using drones within the identified fire prone areas.
3. Installation of Forest Fire Hotlines at PENROs and CENROs
4. Mobilization of organize Barangay Forest Protection Officer
5. Institutionalization of rewards to Barangay forest fire tipster or informants

I. FIRE SUPPRESSION

When preventive measures fails, fire suppression comes in. Fire suppression starts
with the mobilization of firefighting crews and volunteers. Effective and reliable
communication equipments, transportation facilities and fire fighting tools and equipments
shall be made available anytime to the firefighting crews. Fire fighters shall be well trained
and physically fit to undertake the activity. If needed, the support of community/Peoples
Organization shall be tapped to support suppress forest fire. Below are the activities to be
carried out for successful fire suppression.

A. Preparation of pre-suppression plan

Prior deployment of the fire fighting crews in the fire scene, proper assessment of
the area shall made to determine those government properties to be protected from
fire. The team shall familiarized themselves the terrain, topography and observe
weather condition in order to determine the proper attack to be undertaken. The
escape routes shall also be planned for safety of firefighters.
B. Deployment of Initial Attack Crews to the fire scene
The seven (7) man team fire attack crews shall be properly equipped with fire
fighting tools, safety gadgets and handheld radios when proceeding to fire scence
C. Mopping-up operation
 When the fire has been suppressed, a mopping up operations shall be made until
such time that no smoke is observed before declaring the area Fire Out.

II. POST EVALUATION AND PREPARATION OF REPORT

After the fire has been declared Fire Out, the Chief and Technical staff of the Forest
Protection Section of the concerned CENRO shall conduct evaluation and
assessment of the damaged area by fire. They shall conduct indepth investigation to
determine the cause of fire incidence and if evidence warrants to identified
persons/individuals who caused the fire, a criminal complaint shall be filed in court.
Thereafter, the CENRO concern shall prepare and submit a comprehensive report to
higher offices.