Wildfires torch forests amid burning questions on origin
Mzee Mutua Mangeli, a volunteer firefighter, combs a charred section of Kitondo Forest in Makueni County on October 26, 2022. A wave of wildfires has destroyed 1,200 acres of forest land in the county in the last three weeks.
As raging wildfires continue to devour vast swathes of forestland in Makueni County, opinion is sharply divided over what could be causing the destructive outbreaks.
Thousands of acres have been torched in the past three weeks, county Kenya Forest Service (KFS) manager Evans Maneno told Nation.
Although KFS traced the cause of the Kitondo Forest fire to the burning of charcoal by a farmer in a neighbouring village, the agency has not gotten to the bottom of the other outbreaks, fuelling rumours of possible arson.
As raging wildfires continue to devour vast swathes of forestland in Makueni County, opinion is sharply divided over what could be causing the destructive outbreaks.
Thousands of acres have been torched in the past three weeks, county Kenya Forest Service (KFS) manager Evans Maneno told Nation.
