Fire breaks out in Lower Dir forest

TIMERGARA: A fire broke out on the hills of Boata village in Sharbanai Village Council of the Drangaal Union Council near Pak-Afghan border here Monday afternoon, local sources said.

Javed Khan, a local resident, and village council secretary at Sharbanai, told this scribe by phone that the fire, which broke out today around 2:00 pm, was spreading rapidly in the forest.

He said the villagers were trying their level best to put out the fire but it was beyond their control.

“It is quite hard to control the rapidly spreading fire because there was no access to the forest as the access road was about one and a half kilometres from the hills,” he said.

Lower Dir Divisional Forest Officer Imaduddin Khan, when contacted, stated that the forest was privately owned but developed by the department five years ago, adding it was not a designated forest of the department.

However, he said, they had sent sub-divisional forest officer Faridullah Khan along with a team of the Forest Department officials to help them control the fire.

The fire may have broken out as a result of an intentional human act as there are very little chances of a fire breaking out itself in the cold and chilly weather, Imaduddin pointed out.