Published by: Euronews | 7 April 2025
Community forests in Dhading District burned for four consecutive days in April 2025, placing nearby settlements under serious threat. Rising temperatures ignited fresh outbreaks in Jyamire Pakha of Nilkantha Municipality.
The Ashu Community Forest fire spread fast, damaging water pipelines and destroying livestock shelters and stored firewood. Locals, struggling without enough resources, criticised the Forest Division Office for failing to act.
Smoke from multiple fires in Dhading shrouded Ganesh Himal in brown haze, visible from the south-east corner of Kathmandu Valley. Fires also scorched forests in Sindhuli, adding to worsening air pollution across central Nepal.
The fires highlight a critical shortage of firefighting resources at the local level. Out of 753 local levels across Nepal, 644 do not have fire engines, and 17 out of the 151 available fire engines are non-functional.