DEHRADUN/NAINITAL: Even though summer is yet to begin, alarm bells have started ringing in Uttarakhand ’s jungles with the reporting of several cases of forest fires. An unprecedented blaze had ravaged the state’s jungles last year leading to estimated losses of around 4,500 hectares of green cover and loss of over half a dozen lives. This year, in what has been described as the season's first major forest fires, around one hectare of Nanda Devi Biosphere and few meadows in Munsiyari near Pithoragarh have been gutted.Reports have also come of fires raging in forests of Bageshwar district in Kumaon leading to smoke and ash from the burning trees creating a haze in the area. Locals said that increase in number of cases of asthma and other breathing disorders have been reported in hospitals of the district since last week. Mangesh Ghildiyal, district magistrate of Bageshwar told TOI that “efforts are on to douse fires as soon as possible.” “We are working in close co-ordination with the forest department in this regard.”Forest officials at the Nanda Devi Biosphere claimed that the fire in the reserve, a World Heritage site, has now been brought under control. “Majority of our staff had gone for election duty when this fire incident happened but it has been controlled now. It is difficult to ascertain who ignited the fire. The divisional forest official will soon submit a report in the matter,” said Kavi Dayal, conservator of forests, Nanda Devi Biosphere.Rajender Mahajan, principal chief conservator of forests, also reiterated that forest staff did not get sufficient time to prepare for the fire season as they were deputed in election duties. “Now that the polls are over, we are engaged in making all the required preparations to tackle any fire incident,” he said.Environmental experts meanwhile claimed that the forest department should have been better prepared especially in wake of last year’s mega blaze. “Forest officials cannot get away by saying they were deputed for elections and so could not look after their areas. It is their job to ensure that all preparations are in place to tackle jungle fires which are sparked in this season,” said Haridwar-based wildlife activist Dinesh Pandey.Another environmentalist Nainital-based Anup Sah who is also a member of Uttarakhand State Wildlife Advisory Board , said that underlying factors for the spread of fires in jungles had still not been properly addressed, due to which the state’s jungles remained vulnerable. “Most of the forests in the state comprise of chir pine trees whose needles act as a catalyst for the spread of fires. We have to implement effective solutions to address their spread otherwise we will continue to face serious fire situations in the future.”Incidentally, in November last year, the Uttarakhand high court had taken an exceptionally strict stand on a petition related to rampant forest fires in the state in the summer of 2016. The court had ordered suspension of the divisional forest official if a forest fire in an area under his jurisdiction raged for more than 24 hours, of the conservator of forests if it continued for over 48 hours and finally the state forest chief if the fires were uncontrolled for more than 72 hours.