A grass fire in the province of Ilocos Norte was placed under control after a day on Friday, a civil defense official reported.

In a radio interview, Office of Civil Defense (OCD) spokesperson Chris Noel Bendijo said a total of 287 hectares of the mountainous area along Barasan River, affecting some parts of Barangay Barbaquezo and Barangay Virbira in Carasi municipality were affected by the grass fire which was reported on Thursday afternoon.

"Through the joint efforts of different government agencies pursuant to the instruction of the president to have a whole of government approach to address this kind disaster and calamity, we were able to control the fire as of 12 this afternoon," he said.

"We were able to deploy three aircraft from our Philippine Air Force who conducted heli-bucket operations, our local government together with our provincial disaster risk reduction and management, our Philippine National Police they were able to have a break in so far as the fire so that it wont spread anymore," he added.

Bendijo said as a investigation has begun, the military is conducting heli-bucket operation to extinguished the fire as the closest community is just around three to four kilometers away from the affected area.

"As of the moment it is still under investigation. Right now our efforts are concentrated on saturating the ground. Our heli-bucket operations continuous. The intention here is to make sure that the soil is saturated to prevent embers so that the fire will not ignite again," he said.

"The closest residential area will be around three to four kilometers away but we were concerned because ... the condition is a bit dry and from the initial observation the fire have easily spread. That's why since yesterday we already deployed heli-bucket operation. This morning it was complimented with two with one more on standby," he added. Robina Asido/DMS