Jawans to the rescue as forest set ablaze

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Ravinder Sood

Palampur, May 30

A massive fire erupted in the forested area of Chandpur village, 5 km from Palampur, last night.

The burning pine forest engulfed over a dozen houses in the village. In the early hours today, the Forest Department and villagers launched a firefighting operation, which continued for four hours.

The efforts did not, however, suffice. Realising that more manpower was needed to douse the fire, the helpless villagers approached the Commanding Officer of the 39-Mountain Battalion stationed at the Palampur Army cantonment near the village, which has about 100 houses.

The Commanding Officer immediately deputed a team of Army jawans, who rushed to the spot with their firefighting vehicles and launched a massive operation to contain the fire. During the operation that lasted till noon, the Armymen managed to save houses, cowsheds and other properties in the village.

A senior officer of the Forest Department, while talking to The Tribune, said the fire that broke out in the Chandpur forest last nightwas set intentionally. With the efforts of the Army jawans, officials of Forest Department and various teams of villagers, the fire was controlled.

Palampur Divisional Forest Officer Sanjeev Sharma said such fire incidents were increasing rapidly this summer.

“The fires are being set intentionally and I urge people to provide the authorities any information they may have about the perpetrators,” he added, stating that he would act against the culprits immediately.

Lauding the efforts of the Forest Department field staff, Sharma said, “Our various teams, including protection staff and territorial staff, have been deployed in the area for the past month and through their efforts, almost all fires are now under control.”

He also explained that the fires persisted due to the peak summer season and the presence of dry forest matter and litter.

“We called for fire assistance and our team has been working round the clock to control the fires,” DFO said.

Appealing to locals, DFO added, “These are our resources and we need to save them. While we are working 24/7 to control the fires, I appeal to the locals to assist our staff in this effort; it would be a great help.”