Forest fires do not happen by themselves, except in the rare case of a lightning strike. They are caused by human activity. In Uttarakhand, traditionally, village folk light fires deliberately to get rid of plant litter such as leaves, bark, twigs, pine cones and needles, so that fresh growth is possible for their animals to feed on. Almost all of these are ground fires that, in normal weather, burn themselves out. Other causes are negligent outsiders causing problems by even minor actions like throwing a burning cigarette butt into dry leaves, or picnickers failing to properly put out a fire, and so on. Lately, it turns out that there are really stupid people deliberately lighting fires to make videos of them to gain more social media views.
All of this naturally poses a challenge for forest officials and village folk living in the area. There are already established traditions to combat these fires, including establishing fire lines to limit the spread. There are problems now that exacerbate the situation such as changing weather conditions and not enough populations in villages to help combat fires. Climate change has increased summer temperatures and rain does not occur when it normally would. This new pattern makes it difficult to use traditional methods of fire-fighting. It is necessary, therefore, to examine the new challenges and counter them with the help of technology that did not exist earlier. Monitoring can be done with drones during fire season, for instance, which would allow a response well before a fire spreads. It would also prevent fire-fighters from becoming surrounded unawares, leading to preventable casualties. Modern fire-fighting equipment should also be used along with the traditional methods.
It must be recalled that the natural forest habitat was radically changed by the British, as they wanted timber for their masts and railway sleepers, etc. Efforts should be made to regenerate the old mixed forests and plant trees natural to the local environment, thereby replacing the introduced mono-culture. ‘Environmental’ groups so charged up about protecting the forests should focus more on this. Also, government should not initiate new approaches such as aerial seeding and then lose interest after a while. These need to be pursued, season after season, to obtain results.
The system also has woken up to the drying up of water sources. Hopefully, the multi-pronged approach required to revive these will be pursued with the persistence and coordination required. Water helps put out fires!
