Forest Dept gears up to check fires

Tribune News Service

Dehradun, February 19

The Forest Department is gearing up for forest fires that normally start around February 15 every year. Large tracts of forests were destroyed in raging fires last year. Minor incidents of forest fires have already been reported from some parts of the state as temperatures have started rising.

The latest forest fire has been reported from Dalmothi, near the Jim Corbett Park. This area has become prone to forest fires since last year. Forest officials had to work hard to extinguish the fire that started on Sunday.

This is not the first incident of forest fire. Forest areas in the Badrinath forest division and the Nandadevi Biosphere Reserve have reported incidents of fires in the past one week. Fires too take place in Puniyar forest in the Ghat range of the Badrinath forest division. Fires also occurred near Joshimath in the Nandadevi Biosphere Reserve.

The fire in the Dalmothi forest area close to the Jim Corbett Park is a cause for concern as it is close to the tiger reserve and the region has no big history of forest fires. It was only last year that fire incidents were reported from the area and now previous day’s fire here, the first such incident this season, is a cause of worry.

Forest Range Officer UC Pandey says department officials are doing round-the-clock patrolling in the area and have successfully managed to extinguish a fire.