After gutting more than 700 acres of forest in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Kormang Gandorai area of Shangla, the massive fire has finally been extinguished thanks to rescue and forestry teams’ efforts.
The fire raged on for almost three days.
Shangla’s Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Muhammad Amjad told a newspaper that the fire, which began on Thursday and affected four villages, had been put out by Sunday afternoon.
As many as 200 workers of the forest department, as well as locals who were taking part in the rescue work, were engaged in efforts to contain the fire, DFO Khan had said earlier.
Earlier, locals had claimed that the forests were set on fire by the land and timber mafia in connivance with the staffers of the departments concerned.
Similarly, the DFO had also said the fire seemed to have been “started deliberately”, but the department would properly investigate the issue, adding that a high-level inquiry would be conducted to find the reason of its occurrence.
It’s pertinent to mention here that the fire broke out on Thursday evening in the Gandorai area adjoining the mountains of Bisham city, and the blaze spread rapidly because of heavy winds.
