Despite all attempts by the state government to counter the forest fires in Uttarakhand or at least minimise their impact, incidents of wildfire are on the rise in the hills.

Rains brought a momentary respite of two days before a major fire broke out on Sunday and reached near Badrinath shrine route forcing the administration to halt traffic.

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The forest fire in the hills of Uttarakhand is causing havoc as it came close to Joshimath town leading to panic among the residents. The fire that broke out in the forest of Helang village, a mere seven kilometers from Joshimath town, reached Badrinath Highway and was inching ahead towards the town. This forced the administration and locals to immediately halt traffic en route to Badrinath.

The fast-spreading forest fire emanated a huge pall of smoke engulfing a vast area close to Joshimath town. Joshimath Forest officials deployed a force of more than 40 of its employees from Nanda Devi National Park to extinguish the fire. The officials said it took nearly 20 hours for the department to douse fire.

A day ago, similar incident happened in Nainital as the forest fire spread around nearby Indian Air Force station. The IAF cantonment board is on persistent alert to deal with the situation in case the fire comes near the base.

It’s significant to note that so far, 1,628 hectares of forest land across the state have come under fire in 1,200 incidents in the past nearly two months. More than six people have died during this period.