Doti, April 1: Wildfires broken out in at least a dozen community forests in Doti district are yet to be put out. The nearby settlements are at high risk due to this. The natural disaster continues for a week now which has destroyed trees and wildlife habitat.

The wildfire continue to burn in the forests of the highland region of Jorayal, Badikedar, Bogatan Phudsil, Sayal, Adarsha rural municipalities and Shikhar municipality I the district, razing hundreds of hectares of forests, said Mohan Malla, a resident of Jorayal Rural Municipality-1.

“There is no rain and we have not been able to contain the wildfires. The fire has destroyed the trees, new plants and valuable medicinal herbs in the forest in hundreds of hectares. The bushfire continue to spread out posing risk to the nearby settlements,” he said.

Locals have criticised the Division Forest Office and the local community forestry users committees for failing to take concrete initiatives to contain the wildfires.

There are more than 350 community forests in Doti district.

Meanwhile, the wildfire that started at the community forest at Kulpate of Dipayal Silgadhi Municipality-4 on Wednesday has been put out through the joint efforts of the locals, forest office employees, the Nepali Army, Nepal Police and the municipality employees, and with the help of the municipality’s fire truck. (RSS)