20230720 Forest fire put out in Saptur range
India Jul 20 2023 “Forest”
Dead : dead 0 or unknown Burnout : 0 or unknown Injured : injured 0 or unknown
Forest fire put out in Saptur range
Updated: 2023-07-20
Madurai: Following continuous efforts for nearly 28 hours, the forest fire which broke out in Saptur range in Madurai was put out completely late on Tuesday. A forest department official said that fire broke out at Beat 5 of Saptur range around 8pm on Monday. As many as 54 forest department personnel were immediately deployed inside the forest areas to douse the fire.
He said that due to heavy wind fire spread to the grassland swiftly. On Tuesday evening, the teams managed to stop the fire from spreading any further and it was completely put out around 11.30pm. Officials are assessing the extent of damage caused, he added. In view of Amavasai, forest officials have been allowing entry of devotees to Sundaramahalingam temple on Sathuragiri hills since July 15 through the Thaniparai route at Watrap in Virudhunagar district.
As many as 13,000 devotees had trekked to the temple. Though thousands returned to the foothills on Monday evening before the fire broke out, nearly 500 devotees were made to stay at the temple on the hill for the sake of safety. On Tuesday morning, all of the devotees were brought to the foothills at Thaniparai.
Web Source: The Times of India