According to the Uttarakhand Forest Department, on Monday, April 5, 45 places have been set on fire in the state’s forests and an area of 68.7 hectares has been affected.
Fire in the forests of Uttarakhand is such a disaster every year in which human intervention is considered to be the main reason. Since October 1, 2020, 667 fire cases have been reported in the forests and an area of 1359.83 hectares has been affected. Every year hundreds of hectares of forest are destroyed by fire and this causes huge loss of biodiversity, environment and wildlife.
Here the question is why do fires in the forest of Uttarakhand happen every year?
Answering to the very same, Man Singh, the forest fire officer in the forest department of Uttarakhand said that 98 percent of the human fire is caused by forest fires. Often villagers set fire to fallen leaves or dry grass on the ground in the forest so that new grass can grow in its place. When this fire erupts, it disappears, as is also visible this year and due to the lockdown caused by the corona virus, human activity in the forests was less and hence there was a record decrease in the incidents of fire in the forests.
It was observed that Pine forests are the most common fires because the resin from the pine leaves (pirul) and the bark, the resin, is highly flammable and if there is a fire in these forests intentionally or accidentally, then it flares up very fast. In Uttarakhand, 16-17 percent of the forests are of pine and they are considered to be mainly responsible for the forest fires.
What does the forest department do to prevent fires in the forests?
In Uttarakhand, usually fire season is considered from February 15 to June 15. Initially every year, the Forest Department of Uttarakhand makes many types of preparations to prevent the fire from spreading in the forests.
According to forest fire officer Man Singh, before the fire season begins, the forest department burns the control in the forest and builds a fire line, the old fire lines are cleaned, the crew stations are maintained and the master crew station is strengthened. Along with repairing old equipment, every year some new equipment is taken to extinguish the fire.
Most important precaution of Public awareness campaign is also conducted along with staff training. Forest panchayats, forest committees are activated to ensure the participation of local people in preventing forest fire.
Why were there so many fires this year?
In Uttarakhand, the fire season was declared for a year instead of four months in the year 2020 and it was due to many times more incidents of winter in winter. Since October 1, 2020, 667 fire cases have been reported in the forests of Uttarakhand and an area of 1359.83 hectares has been affected.
This year, the fire in the forests has reached villages in many places and the state government has to ask for help from the Centre to overcome this. On the same, Man Singh said that this time due to the fire in the forests, the rainfall in winter was reduced to 65 percent. As a result of which, the humidity in the forests was low and it was only in March that the weather became in late April and May. Apart from this, due to the strong winds after Holi, the fire also spread rapidly and reached the villages. Here comes the question that whether such fire accident be prevented and how?
Answering to the very same, VK Dhawan, Consultant Doctor at Forest Research Institute, said that the lack of preparedness of the Forest Department is the reason for failure of Vanagni accidents.
He continued saying that it is not possible to remove the ‘fuel’ (pine leaves and resin) lying in the forest on a large scale, but we can remove it from the roads, sensitive places, clear the fire line. To clear this, the projects the state government is running to make electricity and coal from the pirul (pine leaves) are not enough. For this, a long term plan has to be made, whose absence is clearly visible.
But Man Singh with different point of view stated that the lack of resources cannot be blamed for the failure or lack of control in forest fires. He says that Australia, America, Russia and European countries have many times more resources than us, but fire in the forests also takes place there and hundreds of hectares of forests are destroyed. Fire is something that cannot be controlled beyond a limit.
Hesco founder Padmashree doctor Anil Prakash Joshi said that forests cannot be saved by the dependence of the forest department alone. If you want to save the forest, then you have to understand your forest eco-system. Whether it is pine forests or other forests, rain water harvesting should be done everywhere. If there is moisture in and around the forest, then the local vegetation itself will start to thrive and this will also increase the ground water.
