Ooty, Feb 25 : The fire in the forest area of the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR) in Nilgiris district of Tamil Nadu is continuing for the three days on Monday, which has spread to nearly 250 acre area.

The fire, which was noticed on Friday evening has already spread to the border of Karnataka, and the casualities of wildlife were not immediately known, due to ravaging fire.

Over 100 forest department officials and tribals, including children and women of seven villages, were taking efforts to check the spread of fire from other human habitats, department sources said.

Meanwhile, a helicopter was found flying over the fire ravaged area. The department has not requisitioned helicopter for rescue operations and it could be from Karnataka, where similar forest fire was seen in Bandiura area, the sources said.

Similar forest fire has been noticed in the hilly areas of Salem and Maruthamalai near Coimbatore, due to the presence of dry grass and high velocity of wind, they said.

Meanwhile, the department has banned the entry of tourists to MTR area, following the fire.

With the assistance of tribals, the officials had managed to prevent fire from spreading to the elephant camp at Theppakkadu, thus saving over 30 pachyderms.