By Marisol Bo-oc | 02:01 AM May 01, 2024
A grass fire that lasted for hours due to the extreme heat affected the Chocolate Hills in Carmen town on Tuesday night, April 30, 2024.
According to authorities, the fire broke out at around 7 p.m. and spread quickly because the area is covered by grass that have dried up due to the hot weather.
The fire was put out at 10 p.m.
At least two hills fronting the viewing deck at the Chocolate Hills in Baragay Buenos Aires were affected, turning the landscape into a blazing inferno.
Personnel of the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP)-Carmen and Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (MDRRMO) stayed at the area to make sure the fire would not affect the other hills.
The Chocolate Hills are located throughout the towns of Carmen, Batuan and Sagbayan and consist of about 1,776 mounds of the same general shape. During the dry season when precipitation in inadequate, the grass-covered hills turn chocolate brown, hence the name in reference to a branded confection.
