QUETTA: A fire that has been raging for two weeks in the Chilghoza (pine nuts) forest in the Sherani district of Balochistan in southwest Pakistan was finally put out on Tuesday after an air tanker sent by Iran completed three rounds of water splashing on the burning trees, top officials in the province said.
Three people have so far been killed in the fire that first broke out on May 9 in parts of the Koh-e-Sulaiman mountain range, home to the world’s largest pine nut forest, annually producing about 640,000 kilograms of the edible seed.
Firefighters from the provincial and national disaster management authorities have for days tried to quench the flames, using rescue vehicles and firefighting equipment, with little success. The Pakistan Army has established a base camp in the area and provided two helicopters to assist in the firefighting operation.
Paramilitary forces like the Frontier Corps and Levies have also been participating in relief and rescue operations.
On Monday, Iran announced it was sending a plane for the firefighting mission, the Ilyushin Il-76 air tanker that has previously been used to control forest fires in Georgia, Armenia, and Turkey, and can launch up to 40 tons of water in the air.
“The fire has completely under controlled now and the rescue workers and volunteers are on ground to find the minor ashes and are splashing water on them as well,” the deputy commissioner of the affected district of Sherani, Ejaz Ahmed, told Arab News, saying the Ilyushin Il-76 air tanker had splashed water thrice on burning trees today, Tuesday, which had been effective in putting out the flames.
“The air tanker impacted very well in efforts to extinguish the fire,” Secretary Forest Department Balochistan Dostain Jamaldini told Arab News. “Around 44 square kilometers of forest has been burnt due to the fire and we would be able to assess the complete damage after completing the fire extinguish operation.”
Deputy Commissioner Ahmed said the provincial government had established a task force to assess the damage caused by the inferno.
“It’s premature to assess the damages in the current situation as we haven’t completed the fire extensions operation but for the most part the fire is under control now,” the officer added.
On Monday, forest officer Atiq Kakar said over two million trees had been destroyed by the fire.
“We appeal to all institutions especially NDMA and PDMA to extend immediate help,” he added, referring to the national and provincial disaster management authorities.
On Tuesday morning, Pakistan’s top diplomat in Tehran announced a special Iranian air tanker had reached Pakistan to help put out the forest fire.
“An #Iranian IL76 airtanker [especially] designed for firefighting has arrived in #Pakistan to take part in [operations] to extinguish #SheraniForest fire in Koh I Suleman, #Balochistan,” Ambassador Rahim Hayat Qureshi, who is also Pakistan’s permanent representative to the Economic Cooperation Organization, said in a Twitter post. “Grateful to [government] of #Iran for their prompt response to our request for assistance.”
The provincial administration of Balochistan on Sunday formed a nine-member task force to tackle the fire on the directives of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
Pakistan is the eighth most vulnerable country to extreme weather caused by climate change, according to the Global Climate Risk Index compiled by environmental NGO Germanwatch. Temperatures have peaked at 51 degrees Celsius in parts of Pakistan in recent days, leaving the poor and vulnerable struggling to beat the heat in the impoverished country.
