Extinguished: Khanpur forest fire put out

HARIPUR: The wildfire that was heading towards Julian and Tarnawa area in Khanpur was successfully controlled by security personnel on Saturday, according to police and eyewitnesses. The fire erupted from Khanpur forest near Garamthoon Kotehra village two days back and consumed over 80 acres of scrub and conifer forest. Due to lack of an emergency response system and few resources with the local forest and civic authorities, the fire could not be controlled on time and was feared to spread with the wind to the hilly areas of Tarnava and Jolian, which overlook some important sites of the district, such as Khanpur Dam and some Buddhist sites.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 10^th, 2012.