By Ali Imran
ISLAMABAD: A fire erupted on a private land in the vicinity of Shahdara area along the Margalla Hills National Park (MHNP) was extinguished by the locals without any major losses or damages reported in the area.
A media post made rounds on the social micro blogging and networking sites that depicted blazing fire hotspots on the hills created much hue and cry among the public especially environmentalists and nature enthusiasts worried about the flora and fauna of the national park.
The Islamabad Wildlife Management Board (IWMB) officials confirmed that the fire was not of a serious nature and occurred outside the national park premises on a private land. Earlier in June 2022, the MHNP’s Trail-3 witnessed a massive inferno due to a TikToker’s irresponsible shoot involving fire scene that occurred in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region and entered into the MHNP. It resulted into a 15-hour-long operation to put out the fire which was jointly carried out by the IWMB, CDA, and the armed forces. Some 25 firefighters of the IWMB and 155 of CDA had taken part in the effort to control the fire.
However, the IWMB had established a special hotline and trained its staff with proper equipment to control forest fires during the fire season starting from April to June.
