KWS contains Mt Kenya fire

The Kenya Wildlife Service says efforts by a multi-agency response team deployed to contain the forest fires that have been raging in parts of Mount Kenya have been successful.

Online mapping service, Mapcarta, describes Ithangune as a peak located nearby to Kanje and Mugi Hill. It has an elevation of 3,858 meters and is Southeast of Lake Alice.

The national game park and reserves agency states that teams comprising 200 Kenya Defence Forces officers, 50 policemen and 131 community forest association members deployed the east of Chogoria are monitoring the situation there.

KDF who joined the efforts Saturday called in ‘air tractors’ carrying 3,000 litres of water to assist in putting off the fire.

The Ministry of Environment and Forestry said on Saturday the fires had affected 100,000 acres in the Mount Kenya ecosystem.

Major fires were reported Kamiruri, Ndaragua areas of the forest and also in Meru and Tharaka-Nthi.

Over 500 personnel mostly drawn from the military have camped at the Aberdares National Park where a joint command centre has been set up to monitor the situation.

In February 2018, 300 hectares of Mt Kenya forest were engulfed in a similar fire, days after the Kenya Forest Service issued an alert following prolonged drought.

The inferno lasted three days.

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