Spurt in forest fire cases

Dehradun, May 22 

As the mercury crossed the 40-degree mark, Uttarakhand witnessed a sudden rise in incidents of forest fires over the past two days with 65 forest blazes reported in one day and 600 fire alerts received on Tuesday.

“On an average, there are not more than three to four forest fire incidents in a day, but the dry spell and the rising temperature has led to 65 forest blazes on a single day on Monday.

“Today we have received 600 fire alerts from our satellites. However, it will have to be seen how many of them are real forest fire incidents,” Nodal officer BP Gupta said. The 65 forest fires spotted on Monday were against a total of 373 fire alerts, he said.There were 600 fire alerts on Tuesday, indicating an increasing trend.

Usually there is a wide gap between the number of fire alerts and the number of actual forest fires as the ultra sensitive thermal sensors record every fire related occurrence in their area as forest fire, he said.

“After spot verification only, we will be able to tell how many of the 600 fire alerts received on Tuesday are actual forest fires,” he said, adding it will be clear only by Wednesday. Although, the increasing trend reflected by the higher number of fire alerts are causing concern among officials — PTI