Balasore: Even as fire brigades and forest personnel in the district are finding it tough to contain the wildfires that continue to spread to several areas in the Kuldiha sanctuary for the last four days, fresh incident of fire has been reported from near Balichua in the protected forest last night.
Panicked local residents accompanied by the fire brigades spent hours last night while making all out efforts to prevent the inferno from spreading to human habitation.
On the other hand, the wildfire that devoured a large tract of forest in Laseri sanctuary under Baliguda Forest division in Kandhamal has been contained. Fire had broken out in the reserve forest on Sunday afternoon and engulfed to several areas in the forest.
Timely action by the local fire brigades has helped contain the blaze, said Kotagada ranger Bijay Behera.