why'd you do it, mister? -4

The smoke intrigued me. I was near the Capitol then and I estimated the smoke I spotted hovering to be over the next town. I thought I could take pictures of firefighters in action. I could use the photos for our Earth Day photo exhibit featuring water resources. I followed the smoke on bike (yes, I limit my carbon emissions as much as I can, at least when Im on the road) but an even worse kind of fire was what I witnessed: intentional burning of a pile of old tires, behind the cemetery of the town of San Nicolas, Ilocos Norte.

It was started by some farmer, said some bystanders who saw him fan the flames (you can see him in the photos beside the gigantic smoke). Not the first time the farmer did this, I was also told. After I took these pictures, I tried to get some local people to call the fire brigade in order to stop this. I asked some ladies nearby what barangay was this in and they weren't even sure. I had to personally go downtown to report this to the fire department. Of course I had to go back to the farm to watch the firefighters work. I still wanted my water photos. But, like I predicted, their fire hoses couldn't reach the fire since there was an irrigation canal between the road and the farm. The fire was almost dying down by then. Afterwards, the firefighters admitted to me that they know there are occasional burnings of old tires here in the same farm.

This was so ironic considering earth day was just four days away. And on the Earth Day, the Governor signed the implementing rules and regulations for the provincial environment code. Burning like this will soon be strictly prohibited and violators severely punished... I think and hope.

ALARIC
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For info on the first environmentalists NGO in the province, visit: blog.myspace.com/ginna_earth