NILGIRIS: More than 100 hectares of forest land have been affected by a fire that broke out five days ago in the reserve forests in the Pykara and Parsons Valley ranges within the Nilgiris Forest Division.
The forest department personnel are on high alert, with many working round the clock and enduring sleepless nights to bring the fire under control.
With limited manpower to tackle the situation, additional forest staff from Erode, Salem, and Coimbatore districts have been deployed since Friday. Senior officials, including Deputy Directors and District Forest Officers, are also stationed at the site to oversee operations.
A senior forest official said, “Due to poor accessibility in the region, firefighting efforts have been extremely challenging. With limited network connectivity, we are relying on walkie-talkies for communication. The fire, which spread rapidly since Tuesday, has been brought under partial control by Sunday. We expect to completely extinguish it by Sunday night or Monday.”
He added that heavy machinery is being used to create fire lines to prevent further spread.
Department sources say the fire was likely triggered by extreme summer heat.
“Dried leaves accumulated over years, buried deep within the soil, intensified the fire. Strong winds further fuelled its spread. Wild animals have migrated to nearby forest areas,” the official said.
Except for the shola forests, vegetation such as wattle, eucalyptus, eupatorium (a genus of flowering plants), cestrum, pine, and other weeds have been affected.
Officials said that central government alerts based on satellite imagery helped identify and respond to the fire.
Sources, meanwhile, allege that information regarding the fire was not widely disclosed by the Forest Department despite the existence of a dedicated WhatsApp group for departmental communication, likely due to the hectic Assembly election processes in which officials are caught up.