18,795 acres affected in wildfires

PESHAWAR:

The recent incidents of fire in different forests of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) affected around 18,795 acres of land.

This disclosure has been made in a new and updated report submitted by Environment, Forest and Wildlife Department to Chief Secretary K-P, apprising him about the incidents and reasons behind forest blazes.

According to the report around 358 incidents of fire were reported in mountainous forests out of which 313 were because of ground fire, 34 of surface fire and 11 of crown fire.

In reserved forest of K-P, 27 incidents of fire were reported, 93 in protected forests, 22 in guzara and 158 in private forests, report added.

Out of 18,795 acres of land, 2,472 acres of land is in reserve area, 2,880 acres in protected area, 824 acres in guzara area and 6,315 acres in private land. The blazes affected 51 hectares of Billion Tree Tsunami in region one, region two Hazara and region three of Malakand.

While 276 hectares of Ten Billion Tree Tsunami project was also damaged due to fire incidents.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 6^th, 2022.