J-K: Udhampur battles persistent forest fires amid severe heatwave

Udhampur (Jammu and Kashmir) [India], June 10 (ANI): An intense heatwave currently gripping the Udhampur region has triggered a series of forest fires, with the latest blaze reported in the Rang forest area of Ramnagar on Wednesday.
This incident is part of a broader struggle for local forest authorities, who are contending with a spike in fire activity as temperatures soar. According to Naresh Majotra, the Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) of Ramnagar, the department has recorded twenty-one fire incidents since the season began on May 22.
"So far this season--specifically since the first incident occurred on May 22nd--there have been a total of twenty-one incidents, ranging from minor to major," Majotra said.
Highlighting the department's response to the crisis, the DFO added, "We have established around eleven control rooms across various areas, and our entire forest staff is deployed in the field at all times; they remain on-site even in areas where no fire is currently burning."
Explaining the challenges faced by ground teams, Majotra noted that erratic wind conditions have severely hampered containment efforts.
"As I mentioned, there have been twenty-one cases in total. In seven or eight of these instances, we managed to bring the fire under control, but then the wind conditions worked against us--the wind often complicates matters rather than helping," he explained.
The DFO further cautioned that the threat of reignition remains high due to the topography and nature of the forest floor.
He said, "Even if we extinguish the flames, a stray spark or a smouldering pine cone can roll into an unburnt area and reignite the fire."
Just four days earlier, a forest fire had broken out in a compartment in the Dabbar area near Flata village in Udhampur district, prompting an immediate response from the forest department.
Range Officer Ayush Gupta stated that teams were deployed to the location as soon as the information was received. Gupta had been managing another fire in the Tirchi forest area of Udhampur, which has since been brought under control, before rushing to the Dabbar site to oversee the ongoing containment operations. He added that efforts were made to control the fire.
The forest department then issued an appeal to the public following a three-to-four-day heatwave advisory from the Meteorological Department.
Residents were urged not to light fires near forested zones, as the blazes cause massive destruction to wildlife, birds, and the overall forest ecology. (ANI)