At least 85 forest fires are raging in Uttarakhand, and have destroyed more than 165 acres of land in the past 2 days. The worst-affected districts include Pauri, Almora, Nainital, Pithoragarh and Tehri. The Centre has deployed the National Disaster Relief Force and also pressed IAF helicopters into service to douse the fires. According to state forest department, Uttarakhand has witnessed over 1000 incidents of forest fire since the start of this year, in which more than 1300 hectares of forest land has been damaged. Not just in Uttarakhand, since January 1 this year, there have been a series of forest fires in Himachal Pradesh, Nagaland-Manipur border, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, including in wildlife sanctuaries.