Uttarakhand: 477 forest fire incidents reported in state; Kumaon most affected

As many as 477 incidents of forest fires have been reported from Uttarakhand so far this year in which over 379.4 hectares of forest land have been damaged. Nishant Verma, nodal officer for forest fires in the state forest department said with the rise in temperature, the forest fire activity has increased. “On Monday, 52 forest fire incidents were reported in the state, including 35 in Kumaon region and 14 in Garhwal region. Over 76.6 hectares of forest area has been damaged in these 52 incidents”. “Overall, this year, the state has reported 477 forest fire incidents. Of 379.4 hectares which were damaged, 136.4 hectares were damaged in the Garhwal region, 202.82 hectares in the Kumaon region and 40.2 hectares in the administrative wildlife regions,” he said. Also Read: Number Theory: Record fires in Uttarakhand, Himachal and J&K as winter turns dry Verma said the forest department is keeping a tab on satellite alerts with ground verification and ensuring quick action when forest fires are reported anywhere. “We are also trying our best to increase community involvement in checking forest fires in the state,” he said. According to forest officials, forest fires have become an annual feature and with the change in weather conditions resulting in soaring temperatures, Uttarakhand starts experiencing forest fires in mid-February, when the trees shed dry leaves and the soil loses moisture due to a rise in temperature, and this continues till mid-June. Since 2000, when the state was carved out of Uttar Pradesh, over 54,800 hectares of forest land have been damaged till now in forest fires.