Fire destroys vast forest area in Ghazi Tehsil

HARIPUR: The forest fire has destroyed a vast area in the Koh-e-Gandgar forest range in Ghazi Tehsil, which caused minor burn injuries to over six fire-fighters of the Forest Department and killed four deer besides forcing birds and other animals to migrate as the fire continued to rage on, area people and official sources said here on Sunday.

Villagers and police said the fire broke out in the forest land of Koh-e-Gandgar near Bandi Syedan Union Council Khairbara, which engulfed a vast area burning down hundreds of trees of different species.

The fire burnt to death several animals and birds found in the Gandgar Forest Range, local people told media persons by phone. The villagers spotted four charred bodies of baby deer, an endangered species found in the forest range, near the Chamiari compartment of the forest.

They said setting the natural resource of forest in Ghazi Tehsil on fire was a common phenomenon every year and the ill-equipped Forest Department was unable to take precautionary measures or post-fire steps that could help control its spread to other areas.

The people of the area said the fire continued to rage on and heavy winds could spread the blaze to other areas, exposing the nearby localities to material loss and health hazards.

The billowing smoke from the gutted areas has become a permanent threat to the environment. When approached for comments, the Range Officer, Gandgar forest range, Syed Toqir Shah, confirmed that the fire started four days back from the Punjab side of the hill and spread to the Gandgar forest range destroying the scrub forest (used as fuelwood) spread over an area of 300 kanals.

He said his staff and volunteers who were 18 in number were busy putting out the blaze and had succeeded in controlling it at different four points during the last four days. The officer said the fire that again started on Saturday night had been extinguished using the local method of brooms and during the fire-fighting, his six staff members suffered minor burn injuries while the clothes of all the 18 including himself, were burnt.

He confirmed that during the wildfire-fighting, his staff recovered the charred bodies of baby deer and several birds. To a question, he insisted that no mature tree was burnt, adding only sanatha trees which were used as fuelwood were lost. However, he could not share the exact number of sanatha trees burnt or the financial loss the forest fire had inflicted on the natural resources this time.