Special task force brings Similipal forest fire under control after 2 weeks

After working tirelessly for hours, the forest and fire personnel successfully managed to control most parts of the fire that wreaked havoc across Odisha's forest division.

The operation to tackle the fire was carried out by a special team, 'Forest Fire Management', which operated under the chairmanship of Sandeep Tripathy, Ex-PCCF and HoFF, formed by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

The wildfires were also reported from over 115 places in various forests of the Sambalpur district. While the root cause what ignited the fire is still unknown, the Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Sanjeet Kumar on Monday warned of strictest action against those who are setting forests on fire deliberately.

The fire was ignited two weeks ago and started extending its territory across the world famous Similipal Wildlife Sanctuary, posing a threat to flora and fauna and killing wild animals and lots of trees with medicinal values.

Meanwhile, when Similipal Wildlife Sanctuary was burning, locals joined forces with forest and fire personnel to save their territory.

Yagyana Dutta Pati, Deputy Director Similipal Tiger Reserve said, "Every year fire season begin in the month of February and continues till April, since this year winter has ceased early and the temperature is 7 degree above normal in Mayurbahnj district and Baripada is the hottest town of Country, due to high temperature the fire has started in Similipal Wildlife Sanctuary."

The state government had sent a high-level team to Similipal National Park in Mayurbhanj district on March 3 to bring the situation under control.

"Mere presence of lawmakers in the district was a pressure building tactic to encourage the fire fighters and the wild life authorities to douse the fire, the presence of lawmakers was to ensure the discharge of duties by forest and fire officials should be maximum,” said BJP MLA Swarup Das.

Here're some heartbreaking visuals of the fire.