Gulmi, April 17

Recurrent wildfires have destroyed more than 500 hectares of forest area in Gulmi district in the last one month.

The wildfires engulfed more than 500 hectares of forest area in various community and national forests, according to District Forest Office, Gulmi.

Bushfires are occurring on a daily basis in majority of the community and national forests due to the prolonged drought, said Karna Bahadur Pandey, assistant forest officer. According to Pandey, wildfire is occurring in most of the total of 438 community forests of the district.

Kamal Khadka, a resident of Malagiri VDC-2 of Gulmi sustained serious injuries when trying to douse the fire in Dhaireni community forest. He is reportedly in critical condition.

The District Wildfire Prevention and Control Network, local community, forest employees, Nepal Army, Nepal Police, Armed Police Force and students have been actively working to control the wildfires.

The District Police Office, Gulmi has vowed to capture those responsible for sparking wildfires in district’s community and national forests.