Kilimanjaro fire: Tanapa seeks help from TPDF
A park ranger looks on as fire burns on Mount Kilimanjaro earlier in 2020.
Moshi. Three days after fire broke out on Africa’s tallest mountain- Kilimanjaro there are no signs of containing the wild flames that are in the moorland area.
As a result, the Tanzania National Parks Authority has sought help from the Tanzania People's Defence Forces (JWTZ) to control the fire which continues to spread rapidly due to strong winds.
According to Tanapa there are more than 500 people including police officers, Fire and Rescue Service, Tanapa guard, students from the College of Wildlife Management (Mweka), rangers and other stakeholders from tourism companies at the scene to deal with the fire
The fire which broke out on October 21 at 7:00 Pm Karanga towards Baranco, which is estimated to be about 3,963 meters above sea level.
Speaking to journalists at the Mweka gate, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, Professor Eliamani Sedoyeka said they went around the burning area using a Tanapa plane and checked the extent of the fire and the affected area.
Professor Sedoyeka said that after seeing that the fire was still raging, they decided to contact the leadership of TPDF and ask for more manpower to help curb the fire.
“We have more than 500 people at the scene but we have communicated to the TPDF and we expect them to arrive anytime as we push to stop this inferno,” he said.
He added: What we are doing now is to prevent the fire from descending into the thick forest and we hope that if we increase our strength we will be able to control this fire within two days because we have already managed to control it in two areas,"
