Forest fires rage in Dang, Palpa, Parvat
Forest fires rage in Dang, Palpa, Parvat
04 April 2010
published by www.myrepublica.com
By Gajendra Bohara
Nepal — Fire has ravaged several forests in Dang district in the past week. District Forest office (DFO), Dang, said the fire has been spreading and there is an increasing threat to many surrounding villages.
The fire has destroyed fresh sprouts and grassland in the forests. “We have yet to have detailed report of fire but estimate around 8,000 plants have been destroyed,” Chief of DFO Kishor Chandra Gautam said.
Locals say five community forests of Dharna VDC are on fire.
Similarly, our correspondent Dilip Paudel reports from Baglung that hundreds of hectares of forest has been destroyed due to fire in different VDCs of Parvat. The fire at Panchase forest that started Saturday is yet to come under control.
Inspector at the District Police Office Deepak KC said the steep terrain has made fighting the fire difficult. “We have not allowed the fire to spread to human settlements but are facing difficulty in controlling the fire at steep hills,” he said.
Meanwhile, Tek Narayan Bhattarai reports from Palpa that fire in the Bandevi forest has been taken under control Saturday. Fifty firefighters of Nepal Army, and policemen and locals doused the fire. Dozens of houses in Batase hill were under threat due to the fire that was just hundred meters away from Tansen Bazar.
CDO Janak Raj Regmi had sought help from the army after police and locals failed to control the fire. We have kept a 50-man team ready to fight fire during this season of fire,” commander of Garud Dal Battalion of the army said.
Meanwhile, RSS reported that an old-aged woman died in a fire that broke out in Hakpara VDC-6 of Siraha on Saturday afternoon.
Bilasi Devi Yadav, 60, of Hakpara-6 was burnt to death in the fire, according to the District Police Office, Siraha.
The fire gutted cloths, property, ornaments and 12 huts incurring the loss worth Rs 5 million, said police.
The fire was taken under control with the joint efforts of Nepal Police, Armed Police and locals.
