Kenya Wildlife Service personnel put out a fire that destroyed hundreds of acres of vegetation at Lake Nakuru National Park February 24, 2011. KWS is carrying out a mop up exercise. JOSEPH KIHERI

The Kenya Wildlife Service is conducting a mop up exercise at the Lake Nakuru National Park, which was enveloped by a raging fire that destroyed several acres of grassland.

According to the senior park warden Mrs Lydia Kisoyan, “the mop up exercise will help reduce the chances of fire erupting again and causing more damage than it already has”.

The cause of the fire, which started on Wednesday evening, is said to have emanated from activities of area residents who were burning their land in preparation for planting ahead of the rainy season.

The fire which raged for two consecutive days was under control as of 2.00 am Friday.

Park officials said that all the wild animals were safe despite the incident.

The Park’s Education Warden Zainabu Salim, who was on duty when the fire started said :“The fire destroyed the southern part of the Park and by midday on Thursday we were still fighting it.”

The KWS officials were overwhelmed by the fire and sought further reinforcements from the Rift Valley provincial administration, Nakuru Municipal council, Kenya army and other organisations.

“The fire got out of control due to strong winds and heat, we were forced to get help from outside the Park since our personnel and the public got overwhelmed by the inferno” Miss Salim said.

By ELIZABETH WANJIRU, Daily Nation