Rains Aid Fight Against Uttarakhand, Himachal Forest Fires

Shimla: Overnight rains in many parts of Uttarakhand has come as a huge relief to the raging forest fires in the state which have destroyed over 3,000 hectares of tree cover. Shimla in Himachal Pradesh also received some rainfall yesterday as the state forest department chief said that all fires had been doused.

In Uttarakhand, light to moderate rains hit the higher reaches of the mountains in the evening yesterday and swept the plains overnight with Munsyari in the hills receiving 11 mm of rains and Dehradun in the plains recording 7 mm of showers, Met department Director Vikram Singh told PTI.

6,000 men including the Army, the Air Force and three teams of National Disaster Relief Force have been working round the clock to control the fires. As many as 573 incidents of fire have been reported so far. The number of deaths from the forest fires rose to seven with a fire-fighter's death.
 A major relief is in store as the weather department has forecast widespread rain and thundershowers in the state till May 5.

"Shimla and its nearby areas received rain on Tuesday and this helped douse the forest fires. Our teams are working day and night across the state to control the fire," Principal Chief Conservator of Forests S P Vasudeva told IANS.

There was no report of any major forest fire in the state as in the neighbouring hill state of Uttarakhand, he said.

Forest officials said most forest fires were deliberate acts. The villagers also tend to set grasslands afire to get softer grass after the rains. In most cases, the fire from grasslands spreads to nearby forests.

The dry and hot conditions has caused fires in the mid and lower hill areas, particularly the pine forests. An unusually large number of fires have been reported from various districts, except tribal Kinnaur and Lahaul and Spiti districts.