Four people lost their lives in the fire that broke out in 62 hectares of forest area in Uttarakhand on Saturday.
12,000 guards and fire watchers of the state forest dept deployed to douse the fire and the blaze has destroyed property worth Rs 37 lakhs so far, said Principal Chief Conservator (fire).
Fire has broken out at Bairagi Camp in the Kumbh Mela area in Haridwar in Uttarakhand.
10 fire tenders present at the spot and the firefighting operation is underway.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawat has called an emergency meeting over the forest fire incidents in the state, the Chief Minister’s Office said. ANI
Union Home Minister Amit Shah spoke to the chief minister to take stock of the situation and said that the central government has given orders to deploy NDRF teams and provide helicopters to the Uttarakhand government.
Compared to 172 hectares last year, over 1290 hectares of forest land got affected by forest fires this year. The state has reported over 39 new forest fire incidents in the last 48 hours, taking the number of such incidents this year to 983. Also, four human deaths and seven animal fatalities have been reported so far due to these forest fires.
Forest fire activity is generally reported in Uttarakhand from February to June, with a peak in fire incidents in May and June.
According to forest officials, apart from less rain in the winter months, due to the fear of epidemic and the lockdown, movement in the forests was restricted. Due to this, a lot of combustible material, mostly pine needles, got accumulated on the forest floor. These materials are cleared every year during control burning but it was affected over the past year, which is one of the reasons for the spike in forest fires.