Madikeri, Mar 5: Around 700 acres of forest is suspected to have gutted in fire that erupted a couple of days ago in Anekadu reserve forest and Kallur Hill in the Kodagu district.
“A total of 700 acres of forest have been destroyed. The heat generated by the fire has hampered firefighting operations,” said Range Forest Officer (RFO)?Ranjan.
Though the fire came under control by Saturday morning, chances of it recurring cannot be ruled out with smoke billowing at a few places inside the forest. Fire personnel are hence camping at the spot, he said.
He said that wildlife, including birds and animals, have been charred at places, while lantana, grass and different species of plants and trees have also been destroyed.
The fire, which was noticed in Attur forest area on Thursday, spread to Anekadu a day later, due to strong winds, destorying both green cover and wildlife.
The forest personnel swung into action along with fire fighters from Madikeri and Kushalnagar, who joined them later. However, the fire spread rapidly to Heruru and Maladhare range due to gusty wind.
Kallur, a lofty area, is suspected to have sufferred heavy damage with the whole of Kodagarahalli and another forest area coming under seventh Hosakote gram panchayat destroyed in the fire. The forest fire in Anekadu has spread to other side of the road. The officials from fire service were trying their best to arrest the spread of fire till late night.
The water tanker of fire tender from Kushalnagar went empty, hindering the operation for a while on Friday. Though efforts were made to fill the tanker with water from the pond in the farm of Dasanda Ramesh Changappa at Seventh Hosakote, technical snag in the pumpset and defunct clutch of the fire tender hindered the operation further. The fire personnel came under flak from locals gathered at the spot.
Meanwhile, Suntikoppa town was engulfed in a blanket of smoke due to the huge forest fire. MLA?M?P?Appachu Ranjan, DFO?Sooryasen, Kushalnagar circle police inspector Kyategowda, Suntikoppa PSI?Anoop Madappa among others visited the spot.
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