A massive wildfire has erupted for the third time in 20 days in the precious pine nut forests of Zhob Division, causing losses worth millions of rupees, 24NewsHD TV channel reported on Wednesday.
The continuous outbreak has devastated vast stretches of forest, with local authorities struggling to contain the flames due to the lack of effective firefighting resources.
The fire continues to consume the economically and ecologically significant chilgoza (pine nut) forests of the region.
Meanwhile, separate fire incidents have been reported in Murree, where wildfires broke out at two separate locations—the forests adjacent to Expressway Manga and Forest No 2 in Phagwari.
According to Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Sudheer Mughal, the forest department teams have been dispatched, and he assured that the fire would soon be brought under control.
This new wave of forest fires comes as a grim continuation of a series of destructive blazes over the past months. On January 10, 2025, a wildfire engulfed parts of the Koh-i-Suleman forest range in Darra Zinda tehsil, where it quickly spread to the olive- and pine-rich zones.
The Rescue 1122 spokesperson confirmed that the fire had broken out at four different points, including Tajori village in the north and Al-Mar-Kalan in the south. The flames destroyed rare trees such as olive, pine nut, nettle, and gur-gure, while also displacing birds and wildlife.
The Forest Department sources revealed that such fires are an annual occurrence, often triggered by locals burning dry grass. Strong seasonal winds further accelerate the spread, making fire control operations extremely challenging.
However, a coordinated joint operation by Rescue 1122 and the Wildlife Department managed to contain the January blaze. In areas inaccessible to fire trucks, emergency teams employed manual techniques like smothering and fire starvation, which proved effective in the high mountainous terrain.
This year's situation recalls the devastating fire on October 31, 2024, in the pine nut forests of Dera Ismail Khan, which spread to Sherani District, Balochistan.
Back then, the Sherani district administration, assisted by Frontier Corps and local levies, had fought an uphill battle to contain the blaze as strong winds obstructed progress.
That 2024 disaster echoed the 2022 inferno in the same mountain range, which destroyed hundreds of pine trees. After local efforts failed for days, only a special Iranian aerial firefighting aircraft, the Ilyushin-76, managed to control the fire after two massive sorties.
Reporter: Haider Ali