Tanzania's Mount Kilimanjaro Fire Under Control

A fire that broke out Friday night on Tanzania's Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest mountain, has been extinguished, a senior official said Monday.

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Eliamani Sedoyeka, the secretary in the Natural Resources Ministry, said the fire was put out Sunday at around 5 p.m., by a team of more than 600 firefighters from various institutions. "The firefighters are still monitoring in case there are some pockets of fire that could go up in flames," he added. 

Asked to what extent the fire has caused damage, Sedoyeka said initial assessment has shown that about four square kilometers of vegetation of the mountain's 1,712 square kilometers of vegetation have been destroyed.

The putting out of the fire will be followed by investigations to establish the cause of the fire that broke out at about 3,900 meters altitude on the south side of the mountain.

On Sunday, the Kilimanjaro regional commissioner Nurdin Babu said that over 600 firefighters were mobilized to put out the fire. They were drawn from the Tanzania Fire and Rescue Force, the Tanzania National Parks, police, scouts, members of the militia, and the private sector.

In Oct. 2020, a fire broke out on the mountain and destroyed 95.5 square kilometers of vegetation and 12 huts, two toilets and solar equipment used by tourists.

Mount Kilimanjaro, with its snow-capped peak and about 5,895 meters above sea level, is one of Tanzania's leading tourist destinations. Roughly 50,000 trekkers from across the world attempt to reach the summit of the mountain annually.