Uttarakhand Forest Fires Rage Across 208 Locations, 130 Hectares Affected

The Uttarakhand Meteorological Centre forecasts rainfall, thunderstorms, lightning, hail and winds of 40-50 km/h for these regions, with conditions possibly continuing on April 29 and potentially extending to Dehradun and Tehri.

In Chakrata, continuous fires and thick smoke have been reported, with local reports noting fires in oak, rhododendron, kafal and deodar forests and significant forest wealth reduced to ashes.

With lakhs of pilgrims expected to travel through the Char Dham route, forest department, police and fire services have been kept on high alert to prevent major incidents.

The Uttarakhand Meteorological Centre issued an orange alert for Nainital, Uttarkashi, Rudraprayag, Chamoli, Bageshwar, and Pithoragarh districts.

Tarai West Ramnagar Forest Division recorded 1 incident affecting 0.5 hectares.

Civil-soyam areas of Almora reported 1 incident affecting 0.5 hectares.

Almora Forest Division reported 2 incidents affecting 0.6 hectares.

Lansdowne Kotdwar Forest Division reported 2 incidents affecting 1.01 hectares.

Mussoorie Forest Division reported 2 incidents affecting 1.06 hectares.

Tarai East Forest Division reported 3 incidents impacting 1.4 hectares.

Haldwani Forest Division reported 3 incidents affecting 1.9 hectares.

Tehri Dam 2 Forest Division reported 1 incident affecting 2.3 hectares.

NDNP Forest Division reported 1 incident affecting 2.5 hectares.

Tons Purola Forest Division recorded 9 incidents impacting 2.7 hectares.

New Tehri Forest Division reported 5 incidents affecting 3.8 hectares.

Narendra Nagar Forest Division reported 5 incidents damaging 4.0 hectares.

Chakrata Forest Division recorded 7 incidents impacting 4.7 hectares.

Pauri Forest Division reported 13 incidents affecting 6.7 hectares.

Soil Conservation Kalasi Forest Division recorded 5 incidents damaging 8.5 hectares.

Alaknanda Soil Conservation Gopeshwar Forest Division reported 17 incidents affecting 9.7 hectares.

Kedarnath Wildlife Forest Division recorded 20 fire incidents, damaging 10.5 hectares.

Pithoragarh Forest Division saw 14 incidents impacting 11.25 hectares.

Uttarkashi Forest Division reported 8 incidents affecting 12.65 hectares.

Badrinath Gopeshwar Forest Division recorded the highest number of incidents at 57, resulting in damage to 17.54 hectares.

Rudraprayag Forest Division reported the highest damage with 31 fire incidents affecting 21.82 hectares of forest land.

Between February 15 and February 27, 126 fire incidents were reported in reserve forest areas across 41 forest divisions, and 82 incidents were recorded in civil-soyam and van panchayat regions. Damages totaled 70.97 hectares in reserve forest land and 58.3 hectares in civil-soyam and van panchayat areas.

The forest fire season officially begins in Uttarakhand on February 15; since then, multiple regions have been affected.