Dehra Dun: A state of high alert was declared in Uttaranchal on June 4 after seven people including five children were killed as forest fires spread to new areas including the famous Jim Corbett and Nanda Devi national parks.

Two people were burnt alive in Tehri district, taking the death toll due to raging fires in the last three days to eight.

Five children between 10 and 17 years of age literally walked into the leaping flames, as they were caught unawares when they went to play in the jungles in Naulakot area of Almora district, superintendent of police, Almora, Mohan Singh Bangyal said.

With alarming rise in fires across the hill state, Uttaranchal forest commissioner R S Tolia on June 4 evening held a high-level meeting with the top officials of all the 13 districts and directed them to deal with the problem like a natural disaster.

He instructed the officials to set up control rooms and put all the staff on high alert all over the state.

Tolia said 55 incidents of fire were reported from the famous Jim Corbett national park in Kumaon region. But it was not immediately known if the fires had affected the flora and fauna of the area.

The jungles in Karnprayag, Gochar, Rudraprayag, Kedarnath area in Chamoli and Ruraprayag districts and some parts of Tehri district in Garhwal region were also in the grip of fires that was spreading to more areas, official sources said.

Reports said hundreds of cattle were charred to death in the forest fires in several villages of Gochar area, while villagers have to spend sleepless nights to keep the blazes away from their houses.

Preliminary reports said trees worth crores of rupees were gutted in the jungle fires raging in several parts of the hill state, where forest cover is 67 per cent.

As per the government data, 1,000 forest fire incidents have so far been reported from different parts of the hill state in this season only.

Meanwhile, black smoke forced Pawan Hans to suspend its helicopter flights to the Kedarnath shrine for the second day on June 4.

PTI