PALAKKAD: Fire watchers and local volunteers were struggling to control the blaze that is raging in the buffer zone of the Silent Valley National park here on Tuesday. Officials said most of the fire was in the Silent Valley and Bhavani ranges.
Silent Valley National Park wildlife warden S Vinod said dry leaves have fallen over the years, tree trunks, and bamboo saplings have caught fire. “Volunteers from NGOs, 54 fire watchers, and 70 protection watchers are engaged in controlling the fire from spreading to the core areas of the national park. I have personally visited the areas where firefighting is on,” he said.
The blaze that has been raging for the past two days at Maleeswara hills in the Attappadi range, was brought under control on Tuesday, the official said. Meanwhile, the fire that has been raging for the past three days in the Attappalam area of Walayar has been brought under control, said Palakkad divisional forest officer Kura Sreenivas.
Seven fire force personnel from the Kanjikode fire station, led by station officer R Hitesh, had gone up the Attappallam hills to douse the blaze. The team returned on Tuesday morning. Hitesh said the team managed to put out the fire in at least 3km area of forests. “High temperature and wind made out efforts difficult. Fire might have spread from the half-burnt match sticks or cigarette butts thrown away from local herders,” he said.
Farmers in Malampuzha and Pudussery areas, situated on the fringes of Walayar forests, have been facing animal raids. They fear fire raging inside the forest could drive these animals out again. Sreenivas said 46 watchers of the forest department were engaged in putting out the fire. They have been on Tuesday evening, in case the fire spreads during the night.
106 incidents of wildfire reported this year
Kochi: With summer peaking, the forest field staff in Kerala are having a tough time as grasslands in forest areas are catching fire at multiple locations across the state. As per the data provided by the fire monitoring cell of the Forest Survey of India, 17 incidents of fire were reported in Kerala on Monday and Tuesday of which five were classified as large fire. Incidents of wildfire were reported in Valayar, Bhavani range in Silent Valley, Mannarkad, Attappady and Agali in Palakkad district, Kumily and Nagarampara range in Kottayam district, Devikulam range and Cumbum in Idukki, Aryankavu in Thenmala division and Ranni range in Pathanamthitta district. The state has reported 106 incidents of wildfire till Monday this year and 259.39 hectares of vegetation has been destroyed. The fire in Walayar was doused on Tuesday. However, fire has been raging in Bhavani, Attappady and Mannarkad of Palakkad district for the past few days. Sources said the tribal community in Bhavani and Attappadi would have set fire to grasslands to prepare the land for cultivation.