Amit Halder & John Wilbert
Port Blair, Feb 16: Yesterday evening a major fire was reported from the forest area of Makka Pahar, which is spread over nearly 4 hectare of land.
As per detail the fire was reported at around 05.50 PM from an area of the forest which is 2 KM away from the main road. The matter as immediately communicated to Fire Control Room and within no time Fire Service teams from Aberdeen and Pahargaon reached the spot along with forest officials.
As the fire had already spread over a large area, the Fire Service team with the help of Forest, police and IRBn Jawan started Fire Beating, in which flames are beaten by tree branches or sticks. The Fire Beating yielded positive results and finally by 11.00 PM the fire was brought under control.
There was huge possibility of spreading this fire in other parts of the forest too, but due to well planned efforts of various departments, under the leadership of Fire Services the fire was brought under total control on time.
The cause of fire is still not known but it is believed that throwing of cigarette over dry grass might have triggered the fire.
