Sundarbans fire ‘completely doused’ five days after it broke out

A fire in the Dasher Bharani Patrol Camp area under the Sharonkhola Range of the Sundarbans has been “completely put out” five days after it broke out, the Forest Department says.

After water was sprayed in the site on Wednesday and Thursday, no smoke was seen on Friday, said Mohammad Belayet Hossain, a divisional forest officer.

“So we believe that the fire has been completely doused." Be he added that the area will be kept under watch for one or two more days.

A three-member committee has begun working to trace the origin of the fire that burnt trees in a 0.53 hectares area.

The fire broke out on May 3. The Fire Service and Civil Defence, with the help of the Forest Department and locals, brought the fire under control after 30 hours of efforts on Tuesday.

But smoke began to rise again on Wednesday, prompting the firefighters to resume spraying water.

The Forest Department initially suspected that the fire might have originated from burning cigarette thrown by fishermen or honey collectors.

About 1.61 hectares of forest in the Dhansagar area under the Chandpai Range in the eastern part of the world’s largest mangrove forest were burnt in a fire on Feb 8 this year.

The Sundarbans East Division of the Forest Department recorded 23 fire incidents in the UNESCO world heritage site in the last one and a half decades, according to Belayet.