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Jaipur: Military helicopters were pressed into service on Tuesday after a wildfire in the Sariska Tiger Reserve, which broke out on Sunday, began expanding, threatening the habitat of at least three tigers and two cubs.
The fire in the reserve, which falls under Rajasthan’s Alwar area, has been fanned across an area of 10 square kilometres by unusually hot and dry winds, officials said, while adding that some of the areas ablaze are out of reach of terrestrial firefighting equipment.
“The area under fire is at a height which is making it difficult to take any anti-fire equipment there. At present, effort is being made to douse fire manually and through water sprinkled by choppers,” said district forest officer of Sariska Tiger Reserve, Sudharshan Sharma.
The Rajasthan forest department has sought help from the army as well as the Indian Air Force. It has put six villages on high alert, asking residents to be ready to vacate villages in short notice, officials said.
Sharma said the fire first broke out on Sunday evening and by Monday, it went beyond the control of containment efforts. “Thereafter, we sought help of army and air force. An Army helicopter sprayed water to douse fire in eight sorties till Tuesday evening,” he said.
The Sariska reserve in all has 27 tigers.
According to Sharma, the fire started in Baletha area in the dry grassland and bamboo shrubs. By Tuesday, the fire spread to Rodkela, Narandi, Kalakadi, Katighati, and Naharsati areas, covering more than two of the nine zones of the reserve.
He added that the reasons behind the fire were not known. Villagers in Baletha, Prithvipura, Nayawas and Bhatyla are being asked to take precautions and avoid entering the forest. “Over 200 people including the forest staff and villagers are engaged in controlling the fire. They are facing challenges because the fire is on hills. Also due to smoke, bees are attacking the people working to control fire,” said another forest officer engaged in fire-fighting activity, asking not to be named.
The officer said the area is inhabited by ST-17 with her two cubs. But, in many cases, it has been seen that big animals have a tendency of finding a safe place in such circumstances. The tigress along with her cubs was last spotted in this area on March 26. Two more tigers ST-20 and ST-14 are believed to be in Rodkela forest block, where the fire has spread.
Sharma said that none of the tigers stuck in the fire-affected area have been traced but are believed to be safe. “The tiger ST-20 and ST-14 are away from the affected area and are being constantly monitored,” he added.
According to Forest Survey of India, in all 211 major forest fires have been reported from across India with, most reported from Madhya Pradesh, followed by Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand. In Rajasthan, 7 major fires are underway as on Tuesday.
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