MANSEHRA: A wildfire damaged a high altitude forest in Satbanni area of Balakot tehsil on Monday.

“If fire is not brought under control it would destroy the entire forest which is spread over an area of 10 kilometres,” Rustam Khan, Tehsil Nazim Balakot, told reporters. He said that the fire had spread to one kilometre area.

The nazim said that the fire broke out in the evening and was fast spreading. He added that the flames and smoke could be seen from far off areas.

A local resident regretted that no official of the forest department visited the area to take stock of the situation, saying the blaze was covering more and more areas rapidly.

The Satbanni forest is natural habitat to exotic wildcat, wild bear and other species.

Published in Dawn, February 28th, 2017