Over 40,000 acres destroyed by wildfires in Kenya’s Abadere forest

Fast-spreading fire has destroyed more than 40,000 acres of the Abadere forest in Kenya . More than 200 Kenya wildlife personnel have been deployed to contain it.

The fire which started at Embaringo in Nyeri county has so far spread to as far as Shamata in Nyandarua county leaving huge destruction.

KWS Director General Erastus Kanga said over 200 personnel are working day and night to control the fires which have consumed large tracts of moorland in the Abadere forest. Unfortunate, two officers from the Kenya Forest Service died while rushing to battle the ongoing fire.

According to the Wildlife conservation agency, the fires risked destroying crucial water catchment bodies that could go a long way to affect other important rivers and disrupt the water supply in parts of Nairobi .

The forests future is now in doubt due to a series of devastating wildfires that have ravaged the park over the past few years.
In 2012 another huge fire in the abadere saw huge swaths of the forest being destroyed.