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U’khand sounds alarm over forest fires, govt sends NDRF
Several new forest fires flared in the hills of Uttarakhand over the weekend, triggering alarm in the state as well as the central government, which has decided to rush teams of the National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF) and deployed helicopters to airdrop water over what at present are 45 blazing clusters of woodlands spread over 68 acres
Several new forest fires flared in the hills of Uttarakhand over the weekend, triggering alarm in the state as well as the central government, which has decided to rush teams of the National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF) and deployed helicopters to airdrop water over what at present are 45 blazing clusters of woodlands spread over 68 acres.
Unusually dry and warm weather has ignited one of the worst episodes of forest fires in Uttarakhand this year, claiming the lives of four people and numerous animals, in addition to damaging 1,359 hectares of land. Since January 1, 1,028 fires have been recorded with Pauri-Garhwal region hit the hardest.
“I have spoken to Uttarakhand chief minister Tirath Singh Rawat to get an update on forest fires in the state. Instructions have been issued to send helicopters and National Disaster Response Force teams to the state to minimise loss of lives and property due to the wildfires,” Shah said in a tweet. The NDRF team was likely to arrive by Monday.
Rawat called an emergency meeting of senior officials of the forest and disaster management departments and all district magistrates to assess the situation and discuss ways to effectively control it, state government officials said.
The worst affected districts also include Almora, Nainital, Pithoragarh and Tehri. In Nainital, Oak forests, which typically have higher water content than Pine trees and are comparatively resistant to forest fires, are ablaze.
Experts said the lack of rains this year has contributed to the problem of wildfires, which typically peak in the month of May. Man Singh, nodal officer for forest fires in the state forest department said that this year, there has been 65 % less rainfall while temperatures have been higher.
“We are taking a lot of measures to contain the alarming situation. It seems that 2021 could be a repeat of 2016 when over 4,400 hectares of forest land was damaged in forest fires. We will make all possible efforts to reduce forest fires and seek the help of locals in this regard,” he said.
Rohit Thapliyal, scientist at Indian Meteorological Centre, Dehradun, said this year, Uttarakhand reported below normal rainfall. “The rainfall was below normal by around 30% in January, by around 50 % in February and by around 70 % in March. Besides, on many days, the maximum daily temperature was above the normal in the state, creating dry conditions, a cause for forest fires,” he said.
With over 71% of its total geographical area under forests, human habitation in Uttarakhand is often adjacent to heavily wooded areas, which increases the chances of forest fire.
In Uttarakhand, 0.17% of total forest cover comes under the extremely fire-prone category, while 1.60% is very highly fire-prone, 9.32% highly fire-prone, 21.66% moderately fire-prone and 67.25% under what is known as the less fire-prone category.
Wildfires are ignited in several ways: they can either by manmade or sparked by lightning, the friction from falling rocks and even from sparks caused by rocks dislodged by monkeys.
Hemant Gauniya, who had filed RTI on forest fires in the state in the past, said despite spending money on fire control, large chunks of forests are hit every year. “Why have we not been able to come out with an effective mechanism to reduce these forest fires that damage so much of our biodiversity over the years”, he asked, questioning the efforts.
Typically, a triad of factors is required for wildfires to rage: dry air, high temperature and fuel load. Fuel load refers to combustibles in the forest, which typically are the pine needles that blanket the forest floor this time of the year.
Experts believe if one of the factors are removed from the equation, the problem may not be as severe. Since temperature and air can’t be controlled, the best strategy would be to manage the fuel load by removing pine needles, experts have said.
