Uttarakhand Forest Fire: A fire broke out in the forest of Budogi in Uttarakhand's Tehri Garhwal district. The forest department employees are not able to control the fire even after several hours of effort. Forest area officer Ashish Dimri said that the flames will be controlled soon. "The fire brigade and forest department employees are working to extinguish the fire. The fire will be controlled soon."
The state has recently witnessed an alarming increase in forest fires, prompting concerns about environmental safety and the impact on local communities, as reported by ANI. As per reports, forest fires have become an annual feature and the change in weather conditions has resulted in soaring temperatures.
Uttarakhand starts experiencing forest fires in mid-February when the trees shed dry leaves and the soil loses moisture due to a temperature rise, and this continues till mid-June.
Earlier this month, a forest fire broke out in Shimla's Tutikandi area. The fire department and forest department were engaged in extinguishing the blaze, which threatened local wildlife and vegetation, ANI reported.
Recently, a massive forest fire spread across many districts in Uttarakhand, raising significant concerns among both the government and the public. The state's Forest Department took strict action against 17 employees for negligence in controlling the blaze.
Earlier, the Uttarakhand government told the Supreme Court that there were 398 forest fires from November 2023 till May 2024 and all of them are man-made. It was further told that a total of 388 criminal cases have been lodged in connection with forest fires and 60 people have been names in these cases.