CANACONA
A fire broke out at the Chapoli hillock behind a residential locality in Nagorcem-Canacona on Sunday night and it was put out in the wee hours of Monday.
Some motorists in Nagorcem noticed the first signs of a fire in the forest at about 8 pm and when the fire spread to other areas, concerned locals alerted the Canacona fire station.
By late at night, the fire could be seen from afar on the Chapoli hillock, which mostly comprises Forest Bamboo (Kolki). The hillock is located behind the Nagorcem residential locality and near the residential complex ‘Bharat Heights’.
In the absence of proper access, a fire tender was stationed on the nearby road, while firefighters and locals walked to the site and after a few hours, succeeded in extinguishing the fire.
“There is no danger now, our personnel came back by 3 am only after extinguishing the fire,” a fire official informed The Goan on Monday morning.
On learning about the fire, members of Shristhal Bio-diversity Management Committee including Chairman Vinay Tubki, Shirish Pai and Tejas Naikgaonkar, visited the site and took stock of the situation.
They also contacted forest department officials for a joint inspection of the fire.
According to Forest officials, most of the Forest Bamboo (Kolki) has been burnt and it was quite a challenge to approach the site.
The Shristhal BMC also contacted Biodiversity Board Chairman Dr Sarmokadam and informed them of the incident. Dr Sarmokadam is learnt to have contacted senior officials and also informed that the Deputy Forest Ranger had taken notice and is supervising the work.
