The Kenya Forest Service has urged people living near forests to be very alert and report any smoke they notice in the forests.
Kiambu county ecosystem conservator Thomas Kiptoo on Tuesday said fires in forests are a setback to work already done on forest rehabilitation.
He said it is also a challenge to President William Ruto's directive of achieving 30 billion trees by 2030.
"The government, stakeholders and the community have invested so much in forest rehabilitation. We need to protect all those efforts because of our present and future generations" he noted.
Kiptoo said it was the duty of every person to participate in controlling fires observed in a forest before they spread.
He also cautioned people living near forests from burning waste next to a forest.
"We need to support each other to control any possible case of fire in the forest and even in our farms. The vegetation including grass is so dry and fires can spread so fast in such bushes," Kiptoo said.
"Whenever fires are witnessed, they drive us back since we lose some trees we had planted. We need these trees for environmental purposes" he added.
He spoke at the Escarpment area in the Uplands forest in the Lari sub-county in Kiambu county.
He was accompanied by Uplands forest community forest Association members and officers from KFS led by area forester Isaac Waweru.
Kiptoo said he had held such meetings at Muguga, Kinale, Kamae and Kijabe forests so as to enlighten them about forest fires and their impact on the environment.
He urged members of the public to report anyone entering the forests with matchboxes, or any smoke they may notice to their assistant chiefs, chiefs, assistant county commissioners, foresters and any other KFS office.
"When you report to all these offices, the alert reaches so fast and we shall have room to act," he noted.
He led the meetings one week after fires were witnessed in the Muguga forest in the Kikuyu constituency and at the Uplands forest in Lari.
However, the fires were contained within a day.
A quarter of an acre was destroyed at Uplands forest while Muguga forest saw its one-acre piece of land destroyed.
Kijabe Environment Volunteers Organisation (Kenvo) director Nelson Muiru said exposing forests to sunlight was a threat to water sources.
"We need to protect what we already have. The trees and the vegetation in those forests even if they are dry, they protect water sources from direct sunlight," he noted.
He noted that one source of Ruiru dam which is managed by the Nairobi water and sewerage company starts in the Uplands forest while Bathi dam's source is in the Kireita forest.
Muiru said we should support the KFS and President Ruto so as to see their vision come true of conserving the forests at all costs for the sake of the ecosystem.
"We rely on forests with water, firewood and grazing. Animals depend on it for pasture while birds and other animals for livelihood," Muiru said.
