Dehradun, May 29 (IANS): As temperature rises in the hills of Uttarakhand, forest fires have engulfed 1,960 hectare of jungles, an official report said on Wednesday.

Significantly, the fires were spreading fast in the reserved forest areas where 1,466 hectares of forests were affected with 1,153 incidents so far, the report said.

According to the data provided by the forest department, a total of 73 fire incidents were reported during the past 24 hours in the state, taking the total number to 1,493.

This has resulted in a loss of Rs 35.41 lakh in terms of forest property.

Almora and Nainital were the worst affected districts where 297 and 289 incidents have been reported.

Dehradun and Tehri districts have reported 137 and 140 incidents.

The hill resort of Nainital with thick jungle cover on Wednesday recorded 28.3 degrees Celsius of maximum temperature which was a few notches more than the normal. Similarly, Almora and Dehradun recorded 34.1 and 38.8 degree Celsius of maximum temperature respectively.

So far, 10 people have suffered burn injuries due to forest fires.

Within the last one fortnight, 960 hectares of forests have been destroyed in the fire in the state. Till May 13, nearly 1,000 hectares of forests were affected. Forest incidents were reported in all the 13 districts.

Forest fires are common during summers in Uttarakhand where more than 70 per cent of the area comes under forest cover.