Villagers in Philippines Are Baffled Why This Vacant Lot is Suddenly “Hot as Hell”

The Philippine province of Sarangani — which situated in Mindanao, one of the country’s three main islands — is currently more popularly known as the place where boxing icon Manny Pacquiao is the congressman. But the place is now being talked about for a completely different reason. In fact, you could say that it’s a very hot topic.

Several residents in the village of Bales in the town of Maasim, Sarangani have uploaded and shared videos on Facebook showing the ground in flames. Elvie Julieta Canoy shared two videos showing the phenomenon.

What’s causing the fire?

Canoy indicated in her post that people were shocked by the flaming grounds and didn’t know what was causing it. The commenters on her page, who appeared to be Sarangani residents as well, expressed some of their speculations about what was causing the ground to be on fire. One user quipped that, perhaps, there was gunpowder mixed with the dirt.

Residents have several theories about the phenomenon.

Another Sarangani resident, Jover Lim Pelones, also uploaded a video and related that the flames still rose even when people poured water on the ground. The fire also kept rising when they threw rocks on the ground.

We’re still waiting for the scientific explanation for this “hot spot.”

While there are those who have theorized that the flaming grounds are brought by the El Niño weather phenomenon, others quip that it may be a “side effect” of the environmental abuses inflicted on the area.

In any case, people are waiting for the country’s scientists to make sense of the flaming grounds.