The ecological devastation wrought by fires in the hills of Uttar Pradesh has been of such intensity that it is virtually impossible to rectify. The fires which have been burning for over a month have charred 80,000 hectares of forest destroying pine, oak and deodhar trees and much of the wildlife. This was a tragedy just waiting to happen. A dry winter, hot gases emerging from the cracks left by the recent Chamoli earthquake and dry leaves are a combination tailormade for such a disaster. Yet, the authorities chose not to react even after the fires began, leaving people in the area to fight back the flames using whatever primitive methods they had at their disposal.