Fires char Garhwal, Kumaon: According to the six-member Union forest and environment ministry team which visited the sites of the recent fires in the Garhwal and Kumaon regions, burning of pine needles by the villagers, absence of winter rains and earthquakes are the three predominant causes of forest fires in the region.Involvement of a powerful timber mafia was being suspected to be behind the devastating fire that charred massive forest cover in Uttar Pradesh.