Home Dehradun As summer approaches,  forest fires have become a  regular fixture

As summer approaches,  forest fires have become a  regular fixture

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By Arun Pratap Singh
Dehradun: As the summer season approaches in the state,  the fire season has already begun, incidents of forest fires are being continuously reported in the forests of Uttarakhand already. According to the official records, so far more than 45 incidents of forest fires have already been recorded this fire season.
It may also be pertinent to point out here that in past few years, forest fires have not remained restricted to the Fire Season only. As per the official records of Forest Survey of India, 1006 incidents of forest fires, big or small were recorded between November 2023 till January 2024. This makes it clear that it is not just the natural factors which result in fires like high temperatures in summer, dry summer months and the dried leaves lying in the forests but also man made incidents and non maintenance of forest areas. Operations like creating firelines and cleaning forest of dead wood and dried leaves are being given a miss. Currently, despite several incidents of forest firesforest fires have not made headlines in the state due to election tempo prevailing in the country.
According to the experts, rising incidents of forest fires, particularly in the off season can also be attributed to some extent to climate change and water crisis.
Uttarakhand is known for its environment, beauty and religious pilgrimages. But in the last few years, Uttarakhand has also started hitting national headlines on account of forest fires. However, earlier forest fires in Uttarakhand used to occur only during the summer season. Not anymore.
Forest Survey of India report states that 1006 incidents of forest fire were recorded in Uttarakhand from November 2023 to January 2024. This figure however includes not only big or major fire incidents but also smaller ones which failed to cause major damage to the forest or wildlife.
Uttarakhand Forest Headquarters, which is responsible for forest fires, is has been holding regular meetings regarding fire incidents. But despite this, incidents of fire are increasing every day. According to the Forest Headquarters, about 45 incidents have been registered in the state from November 2023 to April 3, 2024. About 19 incidents of fire have been recorded in Garhwal division. Whereas 11 incidents have been registered in Kumaon division. Of them, 15 forest fire incidents have been recorded in the wildlife area. All these are big incidents which have caused a lot of damage to the forest wealth.
According to Nishant Verma, Chief Conservator of Forests, Forest Fire and Disaster Management, Uttarakhand, incidents of fire have occurred in 11.25 reserved forest areas of Garhwal division. Whereas fire incident has occurred in 9.93 forest reserve areas of Kumaon. Along with this, incidents of forest fire have been recorded in 11.6 wildlife areas. Due to the fires, 21.05 hectares of land was affected in Garhwal while 11.93 hectares of land in Kumaon was affected by the fire. 12.95 hectares of land in the wildlife area has been destroyed by fire.
Speaking to Garhwal Post, Nishant Verma asserted however that the figures recorded by the Forest Survey of India are all big and small incidents of forest fires occurring in small places. It is just the beginning of summer, and the department has completed its preparations to deal with the forest fires. He informed that a meeting was held yesterday too in this regard.  Letters have been written to all the DFOs of all the districts seeking detailed information from them about their level of preparations for the fires and about the deployment of the staff to deal with forest fires.