Bandipur forest fire rages, were warning signs ignored?

Bengaluru: The Indian Air Force has joined operations to contain the forest fire raging in Bandipur Tiger Reserve in Karnataka for the past five days following a request from Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy.

The state government had sought the help of the IAF, which responded positively. In a tweet, the CM said, "Decided to use Air Force's help to contain the fire. The Air Force Chief was contacted and a request was placed for immediate help. The IAF Chief has responded positively and preparations are on for the operation."

The fire has gutted thousands of acres of forests and is feared to have killed hundreds of wild animals, reptiles and insects. It has also endangered the lives of tigers. The CM held a review meeting with Chief Secretary T.M. Vijay Bhaskar and has requested the public to stay away from the affected areas in Bandipur.

Meanwhile, some volunteers who have been helping to fight the blaze, claimed it could have been fought much more successfully if forest officials had acted faster on tip-offs and stopped it from spreading from Kundakere range of the national park, where it was first noticed, to other sections.  Pointing out that the fire eventually spread to the park's Golpalaswamy Betta and Moolehole ranges, before reaching Wyanad  in Kerala, the volunteers say they had alerted Kundakere forest officials about the fire when it first started four days ago, but they were too slow to act.