A fierce wildfire that consumed hundreds of hectares of livestock pasture for pastoralists from Cherab and Garbatulla sub-counties in Isiolo in the last 10 days has been contained.
At the same time, the government has cautioned residents to be careful while using fires during the prevailing dry spell and strong winds.
The Principal Secretary for Internal Security and National Administration, Dr. Raymond Omollo, and his counterpart in Forestry, Mr. Gitonga Mugambi, confirmed that the 10-day fire was put out on Saturday and response teams were on the ground monitoring any signs of recurrence.
Dr. Omollo said the fire was contained after it had destroyed more than 2500 hectares (approximately 6000 acres) of livestock pasture that the local pastoralists had conserved for two years for later use by their animals.
The Principal Secretary however, revealed that there were no human casualties reported, but the government was out to assess the extent of the damage and see how to intervene.
Dr. Omollo lauded the National Government Administrative Officers, Kenya Forest Service (KFS), Kenya Red Cross Society, non-government organisations, and the local communities for their response in containing the fire.
He appealed to the local people to avoid carelessly lighting fires since the prevailing dry season and strong winds were dangerous.
The PS stated that the wildfire was caused by two pastoralists who had lit it in a bid to control the spread of ticks and tsetse flies’ infestation among the animals in the area.
Forestry PS, Mugambi, who was accompanied by Chief Forest Conservator Alex Lemarkoko, said a team of responders to any further fire outbreak in Cherab will remain on standby for any eventuality.
He called upon Kenyans to be committed to planting more trees so as to attain the target of 15 billion for the country, saying trees were necessary to restrain both floods and fires by reducing the intensity of wind and water speed.
By David Nduro