Last year too fire broke out in the grove, local people said. As there were houses inside the grove, the fire service personnel decided to station the tenders in the area throughout Sunday night, they said. Collector S. Natarajan also visited the spot and directed the fire service personnel to monitor the situation in the night. As a precautionary measure, the fire service personnel would stay in the area on Sunday night and monitor the situation, he said. More than 1,000 palm trees in the 500-acre area would have been destroyed in the fire, fire service sources said.

Source: The Hindu July 04, 2016 00:05 UTC