MP: Fire breaks out in core area of Panna Tiger Reserve, unseasonal rain comes to rescue
The fire spread to three forest ranges of Manaur, Barghau and Pandav fall covering around five sq km area, a senior forest officer of the PTR told this newspaper on Thursday, unwilling to be quoted
Bhopal: A major fire broke out in the core area of the Panna Tiger Reserve (PTR) in Madhya Pradesh late on Wednesday night.
The forest staff and the fire tenders tried to bring the fire under control the whole night.
The fire spread to three forest ranges of Manaur, Barghau and Pandav fall covering around five sq km area, a senior forest officer of the PTR told this newspaper on Thursday, unwilling to be quoted.
However, an unseasonal rain lashed the area on Thursday morning helping extinguish the fire in the reserve forest, the forest officer said.
“It is a matter of grave concern that the fire broke out in the core area of the reserve. The fire also spread to some parts of the buffer zone of the tiger reserve. It is unusual that a fire broke out in the forest even when summer is yet to peak”, the forest officer said.
There were however no reports of casualty or injury to any wild animal in the incident, he added.
This was the first fire incident in a tiger reserve in Madhya Pradesh in the current summer so far.
The PTR is a critical tiger habitat located in Vindhya Hill in northern Madhya Pradesh and fragile through dry deciduous forest.
The PTR is characterized by extensive plateaus and gorges and is surrounded by dense teak forest in the east and a mixed forest in the west.
The tiger reserve is known for its rich biodiversity.
The wild animals found in the reserve are tiger, leopard, wild dog, hyaena, wolf and small cats.
The reserve has a rich prey base such as Indian deer, and chital.
The avifauna in the reserve comprises more than 200 species.
There are a little over 60 tigers in the reserve.
