• Forest fire rages in Bandipur
• 2,500 acres land destroyed
• Gundlupet-Ooty Road blocked

Bengaluru / Bandipur / Mysuru: Major fire incidents were witnessed today not only in Bandipur National Park but also in the parking lot of the Aero India Show in Bengaluru.

Over 300 vehicles have been reportedly destroyed in a major fire at the parking lot of the venue of the five-day Aero India Show here this afternoon. Officials say the cause of the fire could be a lit cigarette that was disposed on the grass in the open field.

Huge plumes of thick black smoke could be seen in the sky near the Yelahanka air base in North Bengaluru, where about a hundred aircraft are parked for the biennial Aero India 2019 event.

Senior Police Officer M.N. Reddi said the fire spread rapidly due to dry grass and strong winds. Hundreds of vehicles, including two-wheelers and cars, were seen parked in files in the open ground, surrounded by fire.

No injuries have been reported, when we went to the Press.

Fire fighting operations by Chief Fire Officer and 10 water tenders staff were under way. No planes have reportedly taken off from the airbase in the last few hours. Sources say they will fly once the fire is completely doused.

The five-day Air Show started on Wednesday and will conclude tomorrow. Earlier on Tuesday, just a day before the commencement of the show, a plane had crashed during rehearsals, killing one of the pilots.

Forest fire at Bandipur

Forest fires tend to ravage large swathes of Bandipur National Park forest during summer every year. The forest fire began three days back in Kundakere range where nearly 600 acres of forest has been destroyed.

On the second day it spread to Gopalaswamy Betta and today it has spread right up to Bandipur Safari Campus Ticket counter, forcing the Forest Department to cancel the morning and evening safari trips, as a precautionary measure.

Even the Gundlupet-Ooty NH 67 road has been temporarily closed today to insulate the vehicles plying on the road from fire mishaps. According to the Forest Department officials the fire is raging from the past three days and nearly 2,500 acres of forest land has been destroyed in the forest fire so far. One of the main reasons that it is difficult to control the fire is the strong winds that are blowing causing the fast spread of fire.  The threat is reckoned to be high this year due to dense growth of vegetation owing to copious rains during monsoon followed by unseasonal rains during November. Chief Conservator of Forests Ambadi Madhav said that a good spell of the monsoon this year resulted in thick growth of foliage and vegetation.

Volunteers’ help sought: The Forest Department in a bid to contain the fire has sought the help of the volunteers who can work with the fire watchers to control the fire.

The officials hope that by evening the blowing strong winds will ease so that fire fighting operations could be carried out.

However, if the winds continue to blow strongly then the operation has to be stalled, they added.

The watchers who are involved in fire fighting are without food and the Forest Department is asking volunteers to get them water, tender coconut and juice to quench thirst.

It may be recalled that in 2017, there was a similar forest fire and volunteers in large numbers had participated in the fire fighting operations.