Around 40 acres of forest was destroyed in fire at Guledalla forest area near Bylukuppe in the district on Tuesday.
The fire that was noticed around 3.30 pm near the teak plantation slowly engulfed the area covering the forest atop the hilly region.
Following the incident, fire tenders from the town, along with the Forest department personnel drawn from Kushalnagar were involved in putting down the fire that lasted for three hours. Officials suspect that miscreants were responsible for starting the fire.
If the fire personnel had not succeeded in dousing the fire, chances of it spreading to the petrol bunk operated by Bylukuppe Tibetan Cooperative Society and the dwellings nearby, couldn’t have been avoided.
As the area where fire broke out was close to B M Road, the billowing smoke disrupted traffic for sometime, as the vehicles passing on the busy road found it difficult to navigate further.
Curious onlookers entering the forest after parking their vehicles on the road side, also became a cause for concern for the fire personnel, as the raging fire was spreading towards the parked vehicles. However no further damages were reported. Meanwhile, the fire personnel came under severe criticism from the public for arriving an hour late.
Published 17 February 2015, 18:21 IST