Forest fire rages in Uttarakhand’s Uttarkashi district

The residents of Uttarkashi district are fearful that the forest fire could go out of hand in the coming days with further rise in temperatures.

MUSSOORIE: Uttarkashi has become the first district in Uttarakhand to experience the raging forest fires this year which have devastated several hectares of forest land in Uttarkashi and Tons Forest divisions on Wednesday.

Around 0.2-hectare forest has been affected by fire in Uttarkashi forest division.

District disaster management authority officer, Devendra Patwal said, “Around 0.2-hectare forest has been affected by fire in Uttarkashi forest division and 3.85-hectare forest in Tons Forest division as per the forest department data received by us”.

The residents of Uttarkashi district are fearful that the matters could go out of hand in the coming days with the temperatures rising even further.

Suresh Chauhan, a resident from Uttarkashi said, “This is the beginning of summer season and the forest fires have begun despite all claims of the forest department of setting a up an immediate response system to douse such fires. The departments concerned have to pull up their socks to control such incidents otherwise it will result in loss of rich biodiversity of the region.”

Punit Tomar, divisional forest division officer, Uttarkashi, said, “With the onset of summer season, the forest fire alerts are on the rise and we are experiencing forest fire near Dunda block area. We have deployed the subordinate staff and increased the number of fire watchers to control it and are making all efforts so that it does not spread in other areas”.

Forest fires have become an annual feature and with the change in weather conditions resulting in soaring temperatures in Uttarakhand starts experiencing forest fires from 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.

Forest fires are generally reported from February to June. They usually peak in May and June. Over 90% of forest fires are man-made. The fires impact biodiversity, be it the microorganisms in the soil, wildlife, small insects, birds and people living in and around the forests, affecting the overall ecology of an area.

Uttarakhand has a forest area of over 38,000 sq km which constitutes 71% of the total geographical area of the state. More areas under forests with human habitations nearby means more chances of forest fire. Given the diversity of forests in the state, Uttarakhand forests are prone to forest fires. In Uttarakhand, 0.17% of total forest cover comes under the extremely fire-prone category, 1.6% under very highly fire-prone, 9.32% under highly fire-prone, 21.66% under moderately fire-prone and 67.25% under less fire-prone category.