Fire on BU campus, 4th incident this month

With winter yet to retreat and summer weeks away, the sprawling campus of the Bangalore University (BU) is already vulnerable to fire. In January alone four incidents were reported.

The latest mishap occurred on Tuesday afternoon. At 1 pm, a fire was spotted opposite to the Pariksha Bhavan (examination block), which gutted at least 10 acres of land in the campus. Though the fire brigade was immediately rushed to the spot, they struggled to put the fire out until late evening.

“This is not a wildfire. As there are a lot of dry leaves and grasses around the campus, some might have thrown a lit cigarette or lighted match stick. This would have set ablaze the dry leaves, only to be fanned by the hot sun and the afternoon wind. This is the fourth such incident this month,” a senior fire official told DH.

As Tuesday was declared a government holiday, the regular traffic inside the campus was missing. Student and faculty were not present in the campus, which helped avoid a major mishap.

As a precautionary measure, BU is housing a fire brigade to cater to the surrounding areas in the huge campus in order to avoid further fire accidents.

“This is common this season. During the summer, our campus is more prone to such incidents. So, we have a fire brigade in place. Just like the wildfire is natural, some incidents are man-made,” a senior BU official told DH.