Miscreants used elephant dung and incense sticks to start Bandipur fires

Mysuru: Dried elephant dung, incense sticks and camphor were used to set fire at nearly two dozen places inside Bandipur Tiger Reserve which has been reeling from frequent fires over the past week.
Forest officials on Tuesday heaved a sigh of relief as no fresh incidents were reported. Fires broke out simultaneously at several locations on Saturday. Since then, forest staff with the assistance of fire and emergency service personnel, Indian Air Force and volunteers brought fires under control around Monday evening.

Personnel continued to patrol areas which are cooling down and to prevent flames, if any, from spreading to other areas. The wind speed which had been hovering around 30 kmph has decreased.

PCCF and head of forest force Punati Sridhar confirmed that the fires at Bandipur were acts of sabotage and miscreants used elephant dung along with incense sticks and other materials to set the grass ablaze. Elephant dung was used because miscreants get ample time to flee the spot or to leave the forest. It was evident in fires which happened in over 20 locations/ pockets of three or four ranges of the tiger reserve.

The hilly terrain of Gopal Swamy Betta was the worst affected.

Punati explained the modus operandi of miscreants. “Lit incense sticks are fixed to dried dung. The dung balls are placed under died grass or lantana camara, a weed that grows in forests. Before the dung or grass catches fire, the miscreants flee. It takes at least 30 minutes to an hour, depending on the length of the incense stick, for the grass to catch fire,” he said.

He said foresters are still probing why the miscreants started the blaze. He left for Bengaluru on Tuesday after the fire was completely doused.

Revive grassland: Wildlife conservationist

A wildlife conservationist, involved in the firefighting operation at Bandipur for the past three days, too said the fires are manmade. The activist, on condition of anonymity, said, “Our priority was to control the fire and we succeeded. Multiple theories about the cause have come up but we cannot confirm any.”

He said the blaze was intense because of the weed lantana camara which is highly combustible. The weed has porous areas within and that aids circulation of oxygen and fuels the fire. Even a green shrub can catch fire and burn like dried ones.

The scale of the fire was huge and it was difficult to control it. The strong wind fanned the flames. Satellite images show that fires occurred at 25-30 locations in Bandipur in the past week and in 10-12 locations on Saturday.

He said, “This is a great opportunity for the forest department to revive grassland in these pockets and provide a natural competition to lantana. We have to collect seeds of native grass and keep them in banks. Make seed balls and throw them in the forest to bring in a positive change in reviving grass patterns.”

IAF chopper returns

One of the two choppers pressed into action to douse fires in Bandipur returned on Tuesday.

PCCF Punati Sridhar said one chopper has been kept on standby and after an assessment on Wednesday, a decision will be taken to send it back. Two choppers were summoned from Sulur Airbase, Tamil Nadu on Monday. After a few sorties, they returned to Mysuru for the overnight halt. They did a few sorties on Tuesday too, he added.