Fire on Paroda hill reappears next day

Margao: The forest fire that broke out on a hill at Paroda on Monday and was later doused by firefighters reappeared on Tuesday evening.
“I was in touch with forest officials throughout the day, and until 6.30pm on Tuesday, all GPS photos showed not a speck of fire on the hill,” said Damodar Zambaulikar, fire officer, Curchorem fire station. “It was only after 6.30pm that the fire reappeared. But as it was already dark, we have to wait till Wednesday morning to assess the situation.”
Zambaulikar said that firefighting operations were conducted four times on Monday, the last one concluding only at 1.30am on Tuesday. “We penetrated deep into the forest and managed to quell the fire by spraying water through monitor jets in the pitch darkness aided by telescopic lights of the fire brigade. We left the spot only after ensuring the fire was doused. There’s also a private forest in the vicinity and we had cleared the fire from there as well,” said Zambaulikar.