Jammu:

Several mines exploded due to a forest fire along the Line of Control (LoC) in Poonch district on Thursday and blaze also erupted in the forest areas of Samba and Jammu districts, causing significant damage, officials said.

In Samba, the fire started in the Purmandal area and soon spread to nearby villages threatening several residential houses, they said.

The villagers alerted the administration, prompting them to send fire tenders to the area and the blaze was doused after effort of several hours, the officials said.

The locals alleged that some criminals are triggering fire due to some vested interests and destroying forest land. They urged the administration to take stern action against those involved in the forest fire.

According to the officials, several mines exploded due to forest fire along the Line of Control (LoC) in the forward area of Mankote in Mendhar sub-sector in Poonch district.

The blaze started from across the LoC and spread to this side, they said.

In a similar incident in Jammu, a fire broke out in the Choki Chora area and spread to adjoining areas of Chora, Khardoon, Padoon, Bamla, Keri and Kandi, spread across several hectares of forest land, the officials said.

The forest department officials and local residents launched an operation to extinguish the flames, successfully bringing the fire under control after several hours, they said.

There was no loss of life or injury to anyone in both the incidents, they added.

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An Indian Air Force helicopter was pressed into service to extinguish the raging forest fires in villages of Srikot in Pauri Garhwal district of Uttarakhand on Monday.

An M-17 helicopter was deployed to assist in the firefighting operations.

State’s Chief Secretary, Radha Raturi, announced today a series of measures aimed at controlling the spread of the flames and mitigating further damage.

Ms Raturi said that the Air Force has been called in to aid firefighting efforts, and plans are underway to implement a pilot cloud seeding project to induce rainfall in the affected regions.

“The Chief Minister held a meeting the day before. For compliance with those directions, the Forest Department has been informed. The Forest Department has given responsibility for each district to its senior officials. Pauri Garhwal is facing the worst. For that, DM Pauri has also spoken with the Air Force. IAF choppers are now carrying water from Srinagar and sprinkling it on the affected area,” Ms Raturi said told news agency ANI.

To prevent further incidents, the state government has banned the burning of agricultural residues and waste in urban areas. This ban comes in response to widespread stubble burning after wheat harvesting, which has been linked to the increased risk of forest fires.

While appealing to Uttarakhand residents for their cooperation, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said, “Forest wealth is our heritage which we have to protect at all costs.”

Since November last year, there have been 910 incidents of forest fire in the state, due to which about 1145 hectares of forest have been affected.