Police officers douse forest fire while forest range officers party
January 31, 2019 04:11 pm
A fire which had broken out at a Pine Forest Reserve in Ruwanpura, Hatton has been controlled with great effort by the officers of the Hatton Police Headquarters.
A fire had broken out at the forest reserve, which falls under the jurisdiction of Hatton Range Forest Office, on the 29th of January. The fire had continued until police officers led by Police Inspector A. M. L. Jemyl of the Hatton Police Headquarters managed to extinguish it the next afternoon (30).
When nearly 75 acres of the reserve was on fire, the Police Inspector had called the officials of the Hatton Forest Conservation Office for assistance. However, the officials of the Range Forest Office had disconnected the calls of the Inspector without a proper response.
Subsequently, after nearly 6 hours of effort, the police officials, along with the help of media personnel and estate workers, managed to extinguish the fire.
The fire had resulted in a severe environmental damaged and water sources of the area had dried up. Had the fire not been controlled in time, it would have damaged nearly 300 acres of the reserve.
According to Ada Derana reporter, when they visited the Hatton Range Forest Office to look into the lack of response for the calls for help, the officers had been having an office party involving alcohol.
It was captured on camera that two officers of the Range Forest Office had avoided the queries of the reporters by leaving on a motor bicycle. It was noted that one of the officers on the motorbike was not wearing a helmet.
A drunken person, who introduced himself as a driver of the Office, said that he too had visited the reserve to control the fire before returning to the office for the farewell party of Head of Office.
