Forest fires: Uttarakhand
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Contents |
The year-wise occurrence of fores
2012-15
See graphics:
Forest fires, Uttarakhand
Satellite images of forest fires in Uttarakhand, 2012 and 2015
Uttarakhand's rain deficit, June 2015-April 2016
2018, May: 19th, 20th
70 ha of forests lost in U’khand fires in 2 days, May 22, 2018: The Times of India
At least 57 small and big incidents of fires and 65 fire alerts were reported from forests across Uttarakhand in the past three days in both Garhwal and Kumaon divisions.
“A total of 69.71hectares of forest area was lost due to fire incidents on Saturday and Sunday while we haven’t yet collated the damages caused in incidents on Monday,” BP Gupta, chief conservator of forests told TOI. He added that the economic loss due to the fires was estimated to be Rs 3.5 lakh.
“The main cause of the fires was negligence on part of people who had lit a fire in or near the forest area. Thankfully, there have been no reports of any loss to life or injuries,” he said.
Forest officials said that fires have been reported from Bageshwar, Srinagar, Almora, Haridwar and Haldwani among other places.
In Uttarkashi, district administration confirmed that around 9 hectare forest land had been gutted in wildfire.
2018, May: more fires
Shivani Azad, 88 more forest fires in U’khand, 1,213 ha gutted, May 23, 2018: The Times of India
The forests of Haridwar, Pauri Garhwal and Almora continued to burn with 88 more incidents of forest fires being reported. A total of 1,213 hectares have been gutted in the state since the beginning of the fire season in February, officials said.
The raging fires have also resulted in losses of Rs 21 lakh and, with the meteorological department predicting heat wave conditions to continue across the state in the coming days, the situation appears unlikely to ease.
On Monday, the forest department received 373 satellite alerts of probable fires of which 88 turned out to be real. In the 88 incidents, 115 hectares of forest land was reportedly gutted, amounting to a loss of Rs 2.03 lakh, officials said.
The total count of forest fires this season has gone up to 741, according to the forest department.
Maximum blazes were reported in the Garhwal region
(468), including 299 incidents in Shivalik, followed by Kumaon (229). Around 520.4 hectares of forest land, including 119.25 hectares in the Shivalik range, have been gutted in forest fires followed by 484.48 hectares in Kumaon.
Chief conservator of forests (forest fire and disaster managment), BP Gupta, told TOI, “The situation will be crucial for next 4-5 days as the maximum temperature has already touched 40 degrees and it will rise further.”
2020: fires down to 134 from 2,000 a year before
Forest fires that occurred with alarming regularity between February and June in Uttarakhand, ravaging thousands of hectares of forests and affecting hundreds annually, have recorded a drastic decline this year. From 2,158 wildfire incidents last year, the number was down to just 134 this season — a 93% decrease in caseswhile 170 hectares were lost to smoke compared with nearly 3,000 hectares in 2019.
But it’s not just Uttarakhand, the dip in forest fires during peak season was recorded across India. As per data accessed by TOI from the Forest Survey of India, 21,110 fire alerts — the lowest in past five years — were recorded across India between February and mid-June, a 20% reduction from 2019 when 26,641 alerts were registered.
FSI uses real-time data from satellites to monitor forest fires and send SMS alerts. “The number of actual incidents and alerts that are sent may vary because sometimes even controlled burning by forest departments to create firebreak lines are recorded,” said Subhash Ashutosh, director general of FSI. He said FSI has categorised forests based on their vulnerability to fires which allows for targeted allocation of resources.
Remedies, preventive steps
The Times of India, May 08 2016
Sharma Seema
Flames have destroyed 4,000 hectares of forests. From clearing pine needles to fire lines, here are some lessons that need to be learnt Finally , Uttarakhand's forests are no longer ablaze. The last of the fires were doused on Wednesday as the skies opened up and the rain gods took over the firefighting job from 11,000 personnel. By then, almost 4,000 hectares of the Himalayan state's forest cover had been gutted. The economic loss is still being calculated but the cost to the environment may be worse. Scientists warn that the black carbon from the fires may melt glaciers, cause a delay in the monsoons and pollute rivers. Massive soil erosion due to loss of the upper soil layer may also trigger floods if the monsoons are heavy this year.
Pine needles menace
What could have fanned the blaze? Was it the chir pine trees that make up 16-17% of the state's forests? The highly combustible pine needles from these trees are believed to be a major culprit in the fires spreading rapidly across the jungles. According to estimates, more than 3 crore tonnes of pine needles spread across the state's 53 lakh hectares of forest have not been cleared for years. “These pine needles are filled with resin and are ticking time bombs which can raze entire jungles with one flick of a matchstick,“ says environmentalist Anil Joshi. The high temperature and dry earth due to scanty rainfall in the winter months may have added further fuel.
Now, the forest department is asking villagers staying near forests to take away the pine needles -as many as they want. State forest secretary S Ramaswamy says the government is also exploring ways to utilize them as raw material in small electric projects, making of fuel bricks, etc.
Maintaining fire lines
Proven fire-preventing practices, some dating to colonial times, have been ignored. Over 4,500 fire lines -stretches kept vegetation-free to stop fires from spreading -most of which were set up by the British, have not been maintained for years. These are now overgrown with trees, which cannot be removed due to a Supreme Court ban on tree-felling above an altitude of 1,000 metres. Ramaswamy says there are now plans to clear the fire lines and the government is “waiting for a written order from the environment ministry“.
Fund crunch
Meanwhile, the blame game is on. “A Rs 8-crore fund was released from the CAMPA (Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Au thority) scheme to make arrangements for fire control and clear the fire lines.The fund, which should have been made available to the forest department by January, came just a week ago when large parts of the forest had been gutted,“ says a senior forest official.
Delay in funds is a primary reason cited by officials for not containing the fires in time. “It is essential that funds are made available in December-January before the start of the fire season so that forest officials can be provided with the necessary equipment and sufficient manpower is at hand, especially fire watchers and labourers who can work on clearing old fire lines and making new ones,“ says Amit Negi, state disaster management secretary.
Who's accountable?
Experts say officials cannot shirk responsibility by citing insufficient funds.“In the 1950s, a forest ranger would have been denied promotion if his range had serious forest fires. Thermometers were maintained in each ranger's office to keep a watch on the temperature and sound an alert if it reached a certain threshold, above which there was a risk of fire,“ says R S Tolia, former chief secretary of Uttarakhand. “Of course, at that time, the area under a range was much smaller. Today , forest staff is burdened with management of much larger territories and has to deal with increasing political interference. But this is no excuse for lack of accountability on their part,“ he adds. An inquiry has been ordered by the chief secretary on why fire lines were not cleared in time.
Involve locals
Questions are also being asked about why the help of local communities residing near forests was not sought. Forest officials say almost all the fires were ignited by villagers who believe the fresh grass that grows from the ashes is nutritious, providing rich fodder for their cattle. “We chose to ignore their acts because we didn't want to antagonize them,“ says an official. But as fires spiralled out of control, 48 cases were registered in April against those responsible for starting them.
Rather than penalising, says Tolia, villagers should be co-opted into a participatory role. “There are almost 12,000 van panchayats, governing bodies of villagers to manage forests near their village. They can play an active role in fire dousing or curbing illegal activities if coordination is smooth,“ he says.
