Fire engulfs Kasauli forests, damages fauna, flora. Army helicopter presses into operations 

The devastating  fire that broke out in the afternoon  has caused heavy damage to fauna and flora in the forests of cantonment town Kasauli in Solan district of Himachal Pradesh, on Sunday.
Reports reaching here revealed that four persons engaged in extinguishing the fire has suffered burn injuries. All were immediately rushed to Army hospital Kasauli where they were referred to PGIMR Chandigarh.   The eye witnesses said that fire spread like a spark of gunpowder in the  pine needles, as the strong winds fanned the fire in highly inflatable needles of pine trees. Cantonment fire brigades, fire tenders from Solan and Parwanoo pressed in to  service to extinguish the fire were struggling hard to control the bladges. Army personnel at Kasauli  were also making strong efforts to control the fire.  Meanwhile, efforts are on to control the fire through Air Force helicopters.  The fire, which started near Manoun village on Kasauli-Parwanoo road, reached the cantonment town area by late evening.  The flames of the fire were touching the height of several feets and during the extinguishing operations,  two firemen Mohindra Kumar and Jagdish who were engaged in extinguishing the fire suffered partially burn injuries while a local person Rishu Agarwal got grevious burn injuries.  He was taken to Army Hospital Kasauli, where after first aid he was referred to Chandigarh.  On the other hand, another person Sompal also suffered partially burns, but his condition was normal.  Efforts are still on to control the fire, till the filing of this report.