KALPATTA: Wildfire is destroying everything in sight in Wayanad. Bodies of dead wild animals are everywhere, mostly reptiles. The fire and rescue forces cannot keep this under control as the forest area is so large. Vehicles of the fire and rescue services cannot reach these places.

Forest areas of Tamil Nadu’s Muthumala and Karnataka’s Bandipur is also on fire. Wild animals from these places ran off to green pastures of Wayanad. After forests in Wayanad were up in flames, they are forced to move to areas of human presence.

Mysore-Ooty NH 67 faced blockage due to fire at Muthumala. The Rajiv Gandhi National Park in Karnataka was also affected by wildfire.

In North Wayanad, the rescue operation is headed by DFO Ranjith Kumar. Forest officers are helpless. The lack of funds is affecting the rescue operations.

The forest officer said that this wildfire is man-made. The residents at forest border have warned that they will set the forest on fire due to a tusker named ‘Vadakkad Komban’, a constant annoyance for them. The fire has spread across the ‘firelines’ set by the Forest Department to avoid spreading of fire. This makes the wildfire all the more suspicious. The department has registered a case on the same.

The District Disaster Management Authority will interfere to stop the wildfire.