Vegetation on hundreds of acres of forest was gutted in a wildfire that broke out at Kenchanakumari reserve forest, in Western Ghats, Sakleshpur taluk, Hassan district, on Tuesday.
As the region is a dense forest, fire tending vehicles cannot reach the spot. Fire personnel have to walk to the spot to bring the flames under control. As a result, the fire spread rapidly and by evening, vegetation on hundreds of acres were gutted, according to sources.
Wildfire was spotted at various spots at Aluvalli-Kadagaravalli between Hongadahalli and Shiradi Ghat on Tuesday afternoon. By evening, the fire has spread rapidly.
The raging blaze is at a distance of about eight kilometres from Bengaluru-Mangaluru highway. The Aluvalli-Kadagaravalli is located around four kilometres from the spot.
30 acres gutted
Meanwhile, in an accidental fire, vegetation on around 30 acres of forest was gutted at Sidilu Mallikarjunaswamy Hill near Bettadapura, Periyapatna taluk, Mysuru district on Tuesday.
As the fire mishap spot was 500 metres above the ground level, the Forest department personnel could not reach the place immediately. So, the fire spread and left 30 acres of forest destroyed.
However, more than 20 personnel of the department struggled to douse the flames from spreading further. ARFO Subramanya, employees Ganesh, Shankar, Gangadhar, Shivaraj, Sanaulla Khan and Raju were part of the operation.