A raging fire - suspected to have been started by arsonists - has now burned over 4,000 hectares (15 square miles) of Mount Kenya forest and is threatening the Mount Kenya ecology and some 882 rare plant species, unique to the area, government officials here say. The fire came weeks after the new government of President Mwai Kibaki announced tough measures to stop illegal logging, encroachment of the forest by neighbouring communities, and growing of narcotics inside the forest.