Number of forest fires on decline in Uttarakhand

Forest fires in the hill state of Uttarakhand, which have claimed one life, are on decline, according to a forest officer here on Monday.

Stating that the number of forest fires has come down in the past two-three days, Chief Forest Conservator Pramod Kumar Singh attributed that to decline in role of people and the last week's thunder shower.

In the past two-three days till Sunday, only 10-15 incidents were reported. However, there was slight increase on Monday as 46 incidents were reported, the forest department said.

Forest fires had affected more than 2,843 hectares of jungles in the state and caused a loss of around Rs 53 lakh, an official report said on Monday. The fires also engulfed 2,114 hectare of reserved forest and 1,540 incidents were reported, it added.

Almora and Nainital were the worst affected districts in the state where 393 and 354 fires, respectively, were reported. Dehradun and Tehri districts reported 107 and 197 fires, respectively.

Maximum temperature in Nainital on Monday was 27.2 degrees Celsius, few notches above the average. It was 39.4 degree Celsius in Dehradun.

In May, number of forest fires increased from 1,000 to 2,032. While 2,843 hectares of forest was destroyed, one person was killed and 11 others injured.

Forest fires are common during summer in Uttarakhand and this year all the 13 districts were affected.

--IANS

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