Why fire in Uttarakhand's forests? Several hectares of forest wealth destroyed

The forest fires in Uttarakhand are now becoming uncontrollable. The government is taking several important steps to control the fire, but the name of stopping forest fires across the state is not being taken.

According to Man Singh, Chief Conservator of Forests (Forestry and Disaster Management) of Uttarakhand, one of the reasons for forest fires is man-made. Many times villagers set fire to fallen leaves or dry grass on the ground in the forest so that new grass can grow in its place. But the fire spreads so much that there is a lot of damage to the forest wealth. At the same time, the second reason is also the flare-up in the pine leaves. Resin, a chemical released from pine leaves (pirul) and bark, is highly flammable. As soon as a little spark starts, the fire erupts and takes a gigantic form.

About 16 to 17 percent of the forests in Uttarakhand are pine. They are believed to be mainly responsible for forest fires. At the same time, low rainfall last year is also a reason for the fire in the forests. He said that due to lack of rain or less, the humidity in the ground decreases.

Due to which the tree plants catch fire soon. However, due to the lockdown caused by the coronavirus last year, human activity in the forests was less. Therefore, the incidence of fire in the forests also decreased significantly. But in the last year, there have been incidents of forest fires even in winter.

Fire season will remain throughout the year

Fire season will now be in Uttarakhand for the whole year. This means that there will be preparation and vigilance like fire season throughout the year to extinguish the forest fires. Presently, the fire season starts in the state from February 15 and continues till June 15.

Most of the incidents of forest fires are seen in the state before the monsoon. Due to monsoon rains, there are no cases of fire even in the pine forests and the incidence of fire is reduced in winter. Based on this, the forest department considers the fire season from 15 February to 15 June to overcome forest fires. But this time there were also cases of forest fires during the winter season.

261 cases from 1 to 5 April

Wildfires likewise erupt in May and June. It is the outbreak of dry weather that the forest fire has started showing the outbreak in April itself. From April 1 to April 5, a total of 261 cases were reported and 413 hectares of forest were destroyed. The forest department has estimated a loss of Rs 8.37 lakh. The relief is so much that humans and wildlife have not been exposed to harm.

1400 hectares of forest so far

This time fire started in the forests of the state only in winter. From October 1 to April 5, about 1400 hectares of forest fire have been handed over. There have also been more than 1100 cases of wildfires.

Eight thousand fire watchers will be deployed to overcome forest fires

Because of the ever increasing incidents of forest fires in Uttarakhand, the attentive forest department has now decided to deploy fire watchers in its fire crew stations. According to Chief Conservator of Forests Rajiv Bharati, about six fire watchers will be deployed at each station, and accordingly, the Forest Department will deploy around 8000.

He informed that the workers or fire watchers deployed at the crew station would work as a team. Fire kits, tools, and other items will be kept at every crew station, and records of wildfire incidents will be kept. With this, there will be morning and evening drills in the crew station every day. The Conservator of Forests and Divisional Forest Officers have also been asked to inspect the crew stations.

1313 crew stations are in the state, help from campa

The Forest Department has built about 1313 crew stations to control forest fires in the state. Around 2000 fire kits have been made available from Campa and an additional Rs 180 crore has been released to the forest divisions.