A massive fire started to destroyed the saplings planted under the Billion Tree project in the mountainous forests of Khanpur on Saturday as the PDMA reported that they had so far received reports of 51 forest fires amid punishing heat in Punjab, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government has failed to control the fire on the mountains of Khanpur since yesterday evening.

However, the fire on the Meera mountains of Khanpur could not be controlled till now.

No concrete steps have so far been initiated by Haripur district administration to control the fire.

Meanwhile, fire has again erupted in Murree’s Express Phiri forest, the Rescue 1122 personnel said and added the blaze at the moment has gripped four to five kanals of forest area.

In another success story, the authorities in Attock have been able to brought the fire in Kala Chitta forests under control with the help of two SPD helicopters.

Personnel from Rescue 1122, district administration, NDMA and SPD took part in the operation.

According to PDMA, as many as 51 incidents of forest fires were reported in Punjab in the month of May.

These jungle fires affected forest area of 200 acres, said the DG PDMA, saying the May to July period is called Fire Zone and main reason behind the spread of forest fires is the human carelessness.

Reporters: Syed Muhammad Ali and Haider Ali