Forest officials doused off a fire that destroyed hectares of dried grasses on Pallur reserve forest (RF) on the hillock along Jawadhu Hills near Pallikonda town on the Vellore - Tirupattur district border on Thursday.
Forest officials said that the steady rise in temperature might have caused sudden fire in the steep and inaccessible terrain. It was around 9 p.m on Wednesday when residents noticed thick smoke emanating atop the hillock. However, before forest officials managed to reach the spot on Thursday morning, acres of dried grass on the hillock got burnt.
“In most cases, such minor forest fires get doused during the cool night temperature. However, we inspected the spot to prevent further damage to forest acreage,” said a forest official.
After a few hours of hard labour, forest officials doused the fire. They also checked for the any death of wild species due to the fire. Following the incident, a special team has been formed for regular patrolling of vulnerable spots in the hillock for such fire accidents during summer, forest officials said.
