Bhaderwah: A massive fire that started last night in the forest range of Doda district in Jammu and Kashmir has engulfed a large portion of the forest.
The fire that broke out in Thaleela forest in Chirala Range of Bhadarwah Forest Division has destroyed a large number of pine trees, a forest officer said.
“The pine forest is vulnerable to fire this season, either due to the sudden rise in temperature or when some grazers deliberately throw cigarette butts on the dry grass, resulting in fire,” Divisional Forest Officer Bhaderwah TP Singh said.
He said a team of 27 officials and workers of the department is busy dousing the fire since last night.
“We are trying our best to contain the fire and have so far succeeded in stopping it from spreading to the adjoining areas,” Singh said.
Just a day after fire incident in the Rajouri district; fire broke out late last night in Doda and soon spread to the adjoining forest area of over 20 hectares of Bhaderwah forest division.
Teams of officials from the Forest Department, Forest Protection Force and the police were constituted to douse the fire and stop it from spreading towards other compartments and nearby villages, locals said.
Official from fire department said, “Soon we got the information we rushed to the spot and since then we are tirelessly in action to douse the fire. But the problem we faced owing to large portion as our pipeline unable to reach every corner.”
According to officials the fire has been spread in compartment number 14, 15, 33, 24, 26, but department has been completely failed to trace the persons involved in it.
TB Singh, a Division Forest Officer (DFO) said a massive operation has been launched by the department with the help of the departments to control the fire. And so far we have been managed to control the fire to some extent and a case has been registered in local police station against unknown person for the incident.
However, locals said that fire is still present in forest areas and department needs to control it properly otherwise it would damage larger areas of the Bhaderwah and also become trouble for the people who living there.
