Fire damages 2,300 hectares forest; one dead

Kathmandu – Fire has broken out in 2,303 hectares of forest area across the country with the onset of summer season. 
According to the Forest Department, the fire has spread in 106 forests of 13 hilly and Terai districts. 

The fire has caused damages to three hectares in a forest of Tanahun, 44 hectares in 10 forests of Rautahat, one hectare in a forest of Morang, 339 hectares in 15 forests of Sindhuli, 165 hectares in 17 forests of Makawanpur and 835 hectares in five forests of Okhaldhunga. 

Likewise, fire caused damages to 195 hectares in two forests of Taplejung, 33 hectares in six forests of Ilam, 253 hectares in seven forests of Dhankuta, seven hectares in two forests of Rasuwa, eight hectares in two forests of Bhojpur, 335 hectares in 38 forests of Dhading and 90 hectares in a forest of Gulmi district. 

Department's Assistant Forest Officer Dambar Bahadur Bhandari said that the incidents of forest fire have increased due to recurring wind storms in the summer season. 

He informed that Mohan Bahadur Thapa, 69, had lost his life in the incident of forest fire occurred in Tanahun district. 
The forest fires have been taken under control with the help of forest office employees, locals, Nepal Police and Nepal Army, he shared. 

In additions, the incidents of forest fire are reported in other districts but the official information on the damages has yet to be gathered, he further informed.