Fire destroys forest in northern India, endangering wild animals

LUCKNOW, India (AP): Workers Saturday were digging trenches to stop a fire that has destroyed a large swath of Himalayan forest in northern India and threatened local fauna, officials said.

"The fire has been raging in the hills of Chamoli for the last three days and has reduced over 200 hectares (500 acres) of forest area to ashes,'' said Govind Nainwal, a forest officer at Dehradun, capital of Uttaranchal state. Chamoli is about 200 kilometres (125 miles) east of Dehradun.

Nainwal blamed the forest fire on an accumulation of dead leaves that become highly flammable in the dry winter months.

Workers were trying to beat back the flames and were digging trenches to prevent the fire from spreading to other areas, he said.

Wildlife in the Chamoli hill forests includes bears, jackals and tigers.