Balasore, April 18: Frequent forest fire at Kuldhia Wildlife Sanctuary is worrying environmentalists and forest officials.

Within a month, at least five incidents of fire have been reported at the sanctuary.

The latest incident took place near Hathikhulia and Dwarika. Due to the fire, wild animals, especially elephants, are leaving their habitats and heading towards villages.

The forest department officials, however, said the fire incidents were "sporadic" and the latest blaze near Hathikhulia and Dwarika had been brought under control.

The officials blamed mahua collectors and arsonists for the frequent fires.

Many tribal villagers go deep into the sanctuary to collect for mahua flowers and burn dry leaves, which sometimes gives rise to fires.

"The mahua flower collectors are a menace. Awareness among the villagers could prevent the occurrence of such incidents to a large extent," said Rabi Rout, an environment lover.

"Since this the period of mahua flowering, the villagers venture into the forest to collect the flowers," said Harsh Bardhan Udgata, the divisional forest officer of Balasore .

"We have satellite image facility. Whenever a fire breaks out, the image is picked up," said Udgata, adding that 20 fire fighting teams with 80 personnel are kept on standby for protection of the sanctuary and are rushed to the spots with blowers.

"Awareness programmes are being held in the villages near the sanctuary to dissuade villagers from lighting fires in the jungle for mahua collection. We are maintaining strict vigil," Udgata said.