Coimbatore: Over 20 foresters and volunteers have been up all night fighting a forest fire that spread from a nearby patta field near Maruthamalai on Thursday.
Coimbatore: Over 20 foresters and volunteers have been up all night fighting a forest fire that spread from a nearby patta field near Maruthamalai on Thursday.
The fire that was caught in a patta land near the forest fringes of Maruthamalai spread to the reserve and rapidly covered more forest ground. The fire had damaged a motorcycle of an APW in patta land before spreading across the forest.
Foresters, including RRT members and APWs from Thadagam and Thudiyalur were alerted and rushed to the spot to put out the fire.
Despite the fire having broken out around noon, the fire could not be controlled even close to midnight as rescue operations were still on.
This is the eighth forest fire incident within a month, in the Coimbatore Forest Division. More volunteers have been requested to lend a helping hand to control the fire.