3,600 hectares gutted in U’khand wildfire

DEHRADUN: Uttarakhand has witnessed one of the worst forest fires in May with over 3,000 hectares being gutted as compared to 2,187 in the same month in 2016 — the year of one of the worst forest fires in the hill state.

In 2016, around 4,500 hectares of forest land was damaged which was around 1,000 hectares less than what has been reported this year. According to the Forest Survey of India data, around 3,600 hectares have perished in Uttarakhand this year in over 1,646 incidents of wildfire.

Forest fires normally take place when the temperatures rise and there is very less moisture on ground. With temperatures rising, the annual phenomenon has spiraled in the last 10 days with around 90% of the 3,600 hectares of forest in Uttarakhand getting burnt during this period. In March this year, 205 fire incidents were reported damaging only 414 hectares. But, due to erratic rainfall in April, this damage subsided with only three fire incidents. In 2016, the year when mas- sive forest fire burnt over 4500 hectares, major damage was recorded in April (2,270 hectares) and May (2,187 hectares).

In Uttarakhand, till Monday, 1,646 fires incidents were reported with resin godowns also on fire bringing the estimated revenue loss to ₹68.57 lakh. However, there’s still nearly a fortnight left for the official forest fire season to end (June 15), when monsoon arrives in the hill state, but the Uttarakhand forest department isn’t keen on engaging choppers like it did in 2016 to douse fire. “Engaging choppers is a costly affair. If the government provides choppers to us, we won’t refuse them,” Jai Raj, head of forest force and principal chief conservator of forest, Uttarakhand, said. Officers, however, are of the opinion that choppers won’t help in India. “The fire in India is ground fire unlike in places like Australia where crown fire is reported. If you sprinkle water at an altitude of 10,000 feet from the ground, it is highly unlikely that the drops would reach the ground and provide a relief,” Jai Raj said.

The main reason for forest fire in the state is Pine and its combustible needles. In a study done by Forest Research Institute (FRI), pine constitutes 26.07% of the total forest cover and 95.49% of the cover above 1000 metre above sea level.

Experts advocates to clear pine needles from the forest in January-February to reduce the chances of spread. “The water content in the ground is less than 10% and in such situation, even a splint result in big fire. We need to start clearing the forest. This could help in bringing relief when the fire season is in the peak,” FRI director, Savita, who goes by her first name, said.