•Government raises alert over fire outbreaks in Naivasha and Gilgil due to drought
•Fire contained by light showers in the forest
A fire outbreak in Eburru forest in Naivasha on Sunday night burnt hundreds of acres, raising fears that many wild animals may have been killed.
It was also feared that animals were displaced even as the public moved in to contain the fire.
The incident happened as the government raised an alert over fire outbreaks in parts of Naivasha and Gilgil due to the ongoing drought.
The latest incident came barely a week after a fire burnt hundreds of acres in Mt Kenya before it was contained by KWS officers and residents.
According to Lydia Nyota, a community leader from Eburru, the fire started in Ndabibi area before spreading fast to the forest that is home to the rare Bongo species.
Nyota said due to the terrain of the forest, it was hard to access the affected parts adding that at times all they could do was watch.
“The intensity of the fire also kept away those keen to put it off and in the process vegetation in the forest and crops in nearby farms were destroyed,” she said.
Nyota added that the fire was contained on Monday morning by light showers in the forest but a lot of damage had already been done.
“It will take months to reclaim the damaged sections of the forest and we suspect that the fire could have been caused by charcoal burners,” Nyota said.
Gilgil subcounty commissioner Ndambuki Mutheki said the subcounty has been hard hit by the drought, making it susceptible to fire outbreaks.
“We are calling on members of the public to be cautious during this dry spell as we have seen an increase in cases of fire mainly around forests and ranches,” he said.
And as this was going on, another fire was reported at the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (Kalro) farm in Naivasha wiping out tens of acres of pasture.
Tens of workers from nearby ranches had to be deployed to stop the fire from spreading to their farms which are home to hundreds of livestock and wild animals.
“We suspect that this fire could have been caused by charcoal burners but we have people on the ground trying to put it off,” Ndambuki said.