A massive fire broke out in the jungles above Tiwargaon in Uttarakhand's Tehri district, destroying forest wealth worth lakhs of rupees, a village head said on Monday.
The blaze broke out on Sunday afternoon and engulfed the whole forest by the evening, village head Vinod Rawat said.
Some criminal elements seem to have set fire to the forest, he said.
The villagers informed the authorities while they tried to extinguish the fire themselves.
Forest Ranger Ashish Dimri reached the spot later along with a force and it took them hours to bring the fire under control by 9 pm.
Ten hectares of forest land was destroyed in the fire, Mr Dimri said, adding some animals and birds were also charred to death.
Dimri has also appealed to villagers to inform the forest department immediately in case of a forest fire.
