Raging forest fires have engulfed more than 650 hectares land in Uttarakhand in less than a month. Though no loss of life has been reported so far, officials say with the rise in mercury level the blaze is going out of control.

Till Thursday, around 550 incidents of forest fire were reported in the state. Strangely, less than 10 hectares of forest cover was reported under fire in the first week of April.

Even as the wildfire is rising with each passing hour state forest officials are clueless on dealing with the crisis. Senior officials in the department informed that although there has not been any loss of life or public property, nearly 15 lakh forest wealth has been lost. Serious efforts are needed to deal with the situation before it goes out of hand.

Almost half of the affected forest, more than 370 hectares, is in the Kumaon region while around 234 hectares of forest are burning in Garhwal. Nearly, 52 hectares of the affected area is part of rich wildlife presence.

A senior forest official, on the condition of anonymity, said the situation may turn worse similar to what happened in 2016 when late president Pranab Mukherjee had to make a statement.

“The 2016 forest fire in Uttarakhand hills was so huge that choppers were to be deployed to airdrop water. Even that was of not of much use. All remedial measures were delayed leading to loss of massive forest wealth, public properties and several human and wild lives. We have to act fast now,” he said.

Interestingly, so far the state Forest Department is dependent on mere ‘Jhap’ (dousing fire manually). In addition to these, local officials are holding public awareness campaigns and harping on legal action against those found involved igniting fires inside forest areas.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami instructed the department officials to take all necessary action to mitigate forest fires in across and keep strict vigil over human actions responsible for blazes. He asked senior officials to assign the officials their duties to deal with the crisis at the earliest. Similar directions were given by the chief secretary Radha Raturi as well.

Principal Secretary, Forest RK Sudhanshu, informed that “instructions have given for strict action against the miscreants who ignite fire in the forest. No sooner than a tipoff on forest fire is received officials are rushed to the spot and reports are being sought from them.”