Raging fire in Margallas controlled after two hectic days

Islamabad : The local administration in the wee hours of Tuesday finally controlled the raging fire that emerged a couple of days back due to heat and gusty winds in the Margalla Hills National Park (MHNP).

According to the details, the Capital Development Authority (CDA) and other relevant departments had been trying hard to control the fire but their efforts were not yielding positive results due to the heat and winds in the national park.

The local people who are posting their video messages on social media have claimed that fire is still damaging the forest cover in the areas falling in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhawa (KP) province.

A video has also gone viral on social media in which some youngsters are spreading fire in the Margalla hills just for a fun and some believe that they are actually responsible for this fire incident in the national park.

The faces of these youngsters are visible in the video so the local administration has sought help of the relevant department to identify and bring them to justice.

The initial findings have shown that the fire has caused damage to the Pine forest on the Haripur side of the national park. The local administration has also approached the KP forests and wildlife departments to come and help protect the Makhnyal forest before it burns down and kills all the wildlife species there.

Every summer, a number of fire incidents are recorded on the hills, which stretch over 12,605 hectares. The area witnesses an average of 31 small and large-scale fires during a year, mostly between May and July.

The data shared by CDA showed that they made a plan to prevent fire incidents in the summer seasons that included cleaning fire lines, trails, and paths; fixing and repairing cautionary signboards, and result-oriented coordination with the KP and Punjab forest departments besides making village committees functional for timely sharing of information on fires.

Following the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), the civic agency is also regularly inspecting popular tourist spots on the hills such as Daman-e-Koh, Pir Sohawa, jogging trails, and other picnic spots.

An official said “A dedicated control room coordinates with other provincial fire departments and reports to the conservator and divisional forest officer about any fire incident. Various fire substations have also been established to keep vigil over the fire incidents.”

“A senior officer of the environment wing acts as the fire control duty officer on a daily basis and is responsible for prevention and detection of fire incidents and coordination of fire control operations,” he said.