1 hectare of Yeoor lost in forest fire on Holi, doused in 2 hours

THANE Even as the

forest

department stepped up its vigilance this Holi in the

Yeoor

range, as much as one hectare of green cover was left in ashes after some miscreants who had enter the forest to celebrate Holi sparked a

fire

in the Owala part of this eco-sensitive zone, taking the total count of forest fires up to three this year.

Officials said that as they were in the midst of their vigil rounds in the forest, the team touring the Owala region noticed smoke bellowing a little away at around 6.30pm and rushed to

douse

it.

“As there is no usable timber in this area, we believe the fire was set by miscreants who snuck in to celebrate Holi. By the time we reached the spot they had fled. Our primary responsibility at the time was to douse the flames before it spread because of the abundance of dry leaves or fuel, and so didn’t chase after them,” said a forest official.

While the forest officials here believe that they managed to successfully control the likely disaster in time, environmentalists here assert that this incident is a huge indication of the glaring porosity of the forest boundaries.

“While it takes a lot of physical manpower and time to keep miscreants off the 65 sq km forest area and ensure that there is no tree cutting going on, it takes much more time and effort to douse and control the live forest fires,” said another forest official here.

“Thanks to our pre-planned vigil, our team of foresters, guards and labourers was close to the site of the fire, because of which we could control the fire, which could have spread fast and spelled disaster, within two hours. Additionally, the rest of the forest was, meanwhile, left untouched,” he added.

“The rampant encroachment on forest land in Yeoor has resulted in the creation of multiple entry and exit points due to which these miscreants come into the forest in there first place. We need to focus on mitigating this issue and prevent the incident in addition to ensuring the vigilance to control any such incidents,” said a wildlife activist here.