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Fire Service and Civil Defence has started extinguishing the fire that broke out in the Amurbunia area of the Chandpai range of the Sundarbans in Bagerhat on Saturday afternoon.
Saidul Alam Chowdhury, deputy assistant director of the Fire Service Baherhat office, informed that firefighters from Bagerhat and Khulna started operations around 8:00 am on Sunday, according to bdnews24.com.
Besides, Bangladesh Navy, Bangladesh Coast Guard and a helicopter of the Bangladesh Air Force also joined the fire service in dousing the fire.
The Department of Forest formed a three-member committee to investigate the incident of fire and to assess the extent of the damage.
Earlier, two units of the Fire Service reached the site on Saturday evening. But they delayed the operations due to nightfall.
Divisional Forest Officer Kazi Muhammad Nurul Karim of Sundarbans East said workers of the Department of Forest and villagers promptly responded after seeing the smoke to fight the flames using water from the Bhola River on Saturday afternoon.
They sprayed water wherever they saw flames and smoke, but stopped when it became dark.
Kazi Mohammad Nurul Karim said on Saturday night that the fire had spread to an area of about 1.5 square kilometres.