Nainital, Uttarakhand Fire: Forest Department's Efforts Fail, Entire City Enveloped in Smoke

The forest, one of the major attractions of Nainital, is now in the grip of fire. Neighboring people are troubled by the smoke caused by the hazy forest fire. People are saying that the fire that broke out this time was never seen before. Chief Minister Dhami visited the affected areas where there is an impact of forest fire.

Uttarakhand, Nainital: The scope of fire in the forests of Uttarakhand is continuously increasing. Nainital, famous for tourists, is surrounded by forest fires on all sides. The flames reached residential areas of Nainital, High Court Colony and Army Area and are also moving towards Haldwani and Kotdwar.

Army’s help taken

Seeing this serious situation, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami sought help from the army. Air Force’s MI-17 helicopter was deployed to extinguish the fire. Due to burning of forests, nearby people are facing problems due to smoke. People say that they have never seen such a massive fire before.

Causes of fire

Due to prolonged absence of rain and dry weather, the weeds and dry bushes of the forest became fuel for the fire.
Pine forests are working like petrol.
Strong winds further fueled the fire.

Where did the fire spread

There is fire in the forests of Bhumiyadhar, Jeolikot, Narayan Nagar, Bhawali, Ramgarh and Mukteshwar areas of Nainital district. Air Force helicopters released water cannons in these areas.

Arrests

Chief Minister Dhami visited the areas affected by forest fire.
To control the fire, leaves of all officials have been cancelled.
Instructions have been given to take strict action against those who set fire.
On Friday, three people were arrested for setting fire to the forest in Rudraprayag.

Affected area

Apart from Pauri, Rudraprayag, Chamoli, Uttarkashi, Tehri, Dehradun and Nainital in Kumaon division, Bageshwar, Almora, Pithoragarh and Champawat districts in Garhwal division are most affected.

Fire Damage

There have been 575 incidents of forest fire in Uttarakhand since November.
690 hectares of forest has been burnt to ashes.
This has caused a loss of more than Rs 14 lakh.
31 incidents of fire were reported in the last 24 hours, affecting 33.34 hectares of forest.