Bush fires engulf Mt Arunachala again in Tiruvannamalai

01/20

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In the dry heat of summer, flames of the bush fire crackle and seethe along the northern slopes of Mt Arunachala.

02/20

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Smoke billows high into the sky from the bush fires on the northern slopes of Mt Arunachala, as seen from the southern side where fires had broken out a fortnight earlier.

03/20

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Smoke billows from long swathes of bush fires on the northern slopes of Mt Arunachala.

04/20

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Murugan (right) hauls a pair of fire extinguishers to fire-fighters struggling to put out the bush fires on the northern slopes of Mt Arunachala.

05/20

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Vast swathes of smoke and flame dwarf the volunteer fire-fighters to ant-like proportions as they struggle to bring the bush fires under control.

06/20

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Paripooranam (center, in blue), of Marudam Farm School, along with other women and men volunteers beat the flames with the most effective means to hand: branches broken off from adjacent shrubs and trees, a long and arduous process.

07/20

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Local school children, on vacation for the summer, join the fire-fighters in beating down the flames with branches taken from adjacent shrubs and trees.

08/20

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Govind (wearing a hat) turns his back to the intense heat of the flames, even as he tries to beat out the fires with branches taken from nearby trees.

09/20

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Vijaya (center background, in sari) and Laxman (right, foreground) thrash the fires with branches to put out the flames and prevent the bush fire from spreading further across the mountain.

10/20

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Kuppan, Forest Way watchman, attempts to beat the flames by thrashing the fires with a branch culled from a nearby tree.

11/20

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Jaya, of Forest Way nursery, beating the bush fire with the branch of a tree, the only practical means available to put out the fires.

12/20

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Kuppan, Forest Way watchman, nimbly stretches upward to harvest branches from a tree with which to beat out the bush fire.

13/20

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Maasilamani, Forest Way worker from Adaiyur village, with a load of freshly harvested branches to be used to beat out the bush fires.

14/20

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Vicky, 17, (right) and a friend, both from the village of Adiannamalai at the foot of the mountain, join the team effort, carrying drinking water up to the hot and thirsty fire-fighters on the frontlines higher up the hillside.

15/20

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A volunteer fire-fighter high on the ridge-line signals to his teammates that the fires have crossed over to the other side of the mountain.

16/20

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In the wake of the devastating bush fire, a surreal landscape of ashes, rocks and bare-branched trees, where hours before stood dense tropical vegetation.

17/20

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In the wake of the devastating bush fire, a surreal landscape of ashes, rocks and bare-branched trees, where hours before stood dense tropical vegetation.

18/20

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In the wake of the devastating bush fire, a surreal landscape of ashes, rocks and bare-branched trees, where hours before stood dense tropical vegetation.

19/20

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Leaves baked and burned to a crisp by the devastating bush fire.

20/20

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In the wake of the devastating bush fire, a surreal landscape of ashes, rocks and bare-branched trees, where hours before stood dense tropical vegetation.

Report current story

Barely a fortnight after a major forest fire on Mt Arunachala, another outbreak consumes the northern slopes of Mt Arunachala. It took two dozen volunteers about ten hours to finally put out the flames which decimated the vegetation in its path.

The fire broke out at 1 p.m. and the response was immediate. It was finally put out long after sunset and by the time all the exhausted volunteers were back at the foot of the mountain it was close to midnight.