As the mercury rises in the city, fires in wooded areas are becoming more commonplace. Fires broke out in the forest area of Jnanabharathi campus on Saturday and Sunday, even as a massive fire broke out in the open land of Container Corporation of India Limited (CONCOR) covered with bushes and tall grass in Kadugodi on Sunday. This comes days after the city recorded 36.4 Degrees Celsius, the highest temperature for March in the last five years.
The massive fire that broke out in the dumping yard of CONCOR, surrounded by several apartment complexes, triggered panic in the area as thick smoke engulfed the area pushing apartment residents to come out in the open. Five fire tenders rushed to the spot and brought the fire under control after hours of operation. No damage to life or property was reported.
Similarly, fires were reported in different parts of the wooded areas of the over 1,200-acre Jnanabharathi campus of Bangalore University on Saturday afternoon and again on Sunday morning. Two fire tenders rushed to the spot and put out the fire and camped at the spot to ensure the blaze did not spread to other areas in the vast campus.
In both cases, the Fire and Emergency Services suspect that the fire may have been triggered either by natural causes - rubbing of dry branches amidst rising temperature or by a burning cigarette or a beedi carelessly thrown at dry grass or branches.
A senior official said that such fires were common in the wooded areas in the city during summer and they were on high alert, given the drought, water crisis and rising mercury.
“We have increased patrolling of the forest area to ensure nobody throws cigarette butts or anything that may trigger a fire. Meanwhile, since we have a fire station in our campus, arrangements have been made to ensure at least one fire tender to be on the campus always,” said Jayakara S.M., Vice-Chancellor, Bangalore University.
