Fresh fire breaks out in Seshachalam forest

Tirumala: About 100 hectares of rich flora went up in flames in the fresh forest fire inside the Seshachalam forest range, close to Tirumala on Sunday. According to NV Shivaram Prasad, Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams forest wing, the forest fire broke out deep inside the valley near the 7th mile on Sunday afternoon.

The TTD forest wing rushed to the spot, immediately after learning the fire. Two squads - one from Tirumala and another from Tirupati were pressed into service by the TTD forest wing. According to the DFO, the fresh forest fire broke out in the government reserve forest sanctuary area and not in the forests within the TTD's purview.

‘We informed the government forest department officials in Tirupati about the forest fire. But we didn’t wait till they turn up as the forest fire could spread rapidly into our area as well. So, we engaged a 50-member strong team, split into two, to douse the fire,’ he added.

‘It took five hours for the two teams, who pressed into service at around 2.30 pm, to manually put off the fire completely. The two teams engaged themselves in dousing the fire in opposite directions and were able to successfully bring the ravaging forest fire under total control by 7.30 pm,’ DFO Prasad said.