2 weeks Ago By Aditi Shekhar
Pune: Around one hectare of forest land was destroyed in a fire on a hill in Sus village late on Thursday night. The fire broke out around 10.15 PM in a private area on the bottom of the hill in front of a resort and quickly spread to the top.
It was finally doused by a team of fire brigade and forest personnel around 2AM. The fire burnt down the entire hill, raging through at least seven kilometres of grasslands home to a whole range of biodiversity, forest officials said. Sagar Hole, forest guard, Pirangut, told TOI, "We received information about the fire around 11 pm and immediately dispatched a team.
We entered through the forest area and prevented the fire from entering the reserve area. The fire blazed through the entire hill and appeared impossible to control. The area is home to multiple species of animals and birds such as peacocks and bhekars (barking deers).
We are now investigating the matter. We managed to stop the fire before it could enter the dense areas." The department will file an offence against unknown people under Indian Forest Act, 1927 and raise awareness against stubble burning, burning of grass to clear land, and throwing cigarette buds on the ground.
The department has also issued advisories to private landowners to cut grass and maintain it throughout the season. "Prima facie, it looks like someone wanted to clear the land in a private area for construction purposes and lit the fire. We will be investigating the matter further," said Hole.
"It is a man-made fire. However, it is difficult to gain evidence and establish it. Our team utilised wind blowers and whatever was present to douse it by 2 AM," said Nandkumar Shelar, round officer.
Two fire extinguishing vans were pressed into service to douse the blaze. Altogether 12 fire brigade personnel and seven forest department staffers battled for nearly three hours to put out the fire. According to data from the fire brigade, 54 forest fires took place in Jan, 141 in Feb, and 128 so far in March.
In comparison, 248 fires were observed in the first three months of 2024. Meanwhile, the Forest Survey of India's website stated that 327 big forest fires have been observed in last seven days in the state. "Fire incients have been increasing this year due to the heat and negligence of people.
This man-made fire was extremely huge. Our trucks couldn't reach the top, but we doused it from the bottom. The entire hill was ablaze.
It has been difficult to handle such fires recently as they have occurred at least 5 to 6 times at Vetal Tekdi. Big fires have been observed at Taljai as well," said Nilesh Mahajan, spokesperson, fire brigade. Officials said often residents and watchmen throw garbage on reserve land, which can cause a spark and lead to a big fire on dry patches of the forest.
They have sought a dedicated forest department team to handle such fires..
