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Mount Kenya fire burnt 8,700 hectares, more than double the first estimate.
The fire that broke out on Mount Kenya on 1 September burnt about 8,700 hectares of moorland – more than double the government's first estimate – according to figures from the conservation group Rhino Ark.
More than 400 people were sent in to fight it, among them 144 Kenya Defence Forces officers and 100 Kenya Forest Service staff, working alongside the Mount Kenya Trust, Kenya Wildlife Service, Rhino Ark and Lewa Wildlife Conservancy.
The northern section was contained by Monday. Crews kept working the southern side as fire fronts pushed towards Marania Forest and Chogoria.
Forestry Cabinet Secretary Deborah Barasa said the moorland grass was very dry, which helped the fire move. Strong winds and invasive plants including Erica made it burn hotter.
The Kenya Forest Service said it had knocked down about 85 per cent of the fire's intensity but struggled to reach high, hard ground. That has renewed calls for better access roads and an airstrip on the mountain.
Barasa said the larger wildlife had mostly moved out on its own. "There are no wild animals so far; just the small animals like the rabbits have been affected," she said.
This story was put together by K N N from material first published by The Standard.
That was a Kibra News Network report, read by an A I voice.
The fire that broke out on Mount Kenya on 1 September burnt about 8,700 hectares of moorland — more than double the government’s first estimate — according to figures from the conservation group Rhino Ark.
More than 400 people were sent in to fight it, among them 144 Kenya Defence Forces officers and 100 Kenya Forest Service staff, working alongside the Mount Kenya Trust, Kenya Wildlife Service, Rhino Ark and Lewa Wildlife Conservancy.
The northern section was contained by Monday. Crews kept working the southern side as fire fronts pushed towards Marania Forest and Chogoria.
Forestry Cabinet Secretary Deborah Barasa said the moorland grass was very dry, which helped the fire move. Strong winds and invasive plants including Erica made it burn hotter.
The Kenya Forest Service said it had knocked down about 85 per cent of the fire’s intensity but struggled to reach high, hard ground. That has renewed calls for better access roads and an airstrip on the mountain.
Barasa said the larger wildlife had mostly moved out on its own. “There are no wild animals so far; just the small animals like the rabbits have been affected,” she said.
KNN Newsroom is the staff byline for stories written, rewritten and edited at the Kibra News Network desk. Where a story credits an outside outlet, the original source is linked at the foot of the piece.
