Rising mercury triggers forest fires

Ravinder Sood

Palampur, April 26

With the onset of the summer season, forest fires are being reported from the lower hills in the state. Pine forests in the lower hills of the state — including Palampur, Dehra Gopipur and Nurpur divisions — are vulnerable to fires in summer.

Due to the lack of cooperation by the locals — who have been declared “bartandar” (users of forest) by the state government — the Forest Department finds it difficult to check fire incidents. The situation is under control as of now as the forest officials have managed to douse most fires in the last two days.

In the absence of adequate financial support from the state government for initiating preventive measures, the Forest Department has been looking up to the rain gods to douse the flames. The raging fires are extinguished completely only when the monsoon breaks over the region. This year, the wait could be long as monsoon rains are expected to hit the region after June 25.

Official sources said the Forest Department had not been able to take even minimum preventive measures like controlled burning of forests and maintenance of fire lines this year. The total area under pine forests, where controlled burning is required is 1.50 lakh hectare. Such preventive measures are to be carried out in over 50,000 hectare at least.

Sources added that over 20 per cent of the total forest area of the state is prone to fire. The controlled fires are beneficial for the growth of forests, while uncontrolled blazes cause severe damage to soil, water, wildlife and the overall environment.

The controlled burning helps destruction of inflammable material which gets accumulated on the forest floor. An estimated 2 tonnes of pine needles are shed by trees in over 1 hectare of forest annually. As the mercury rises in the summer, the highly inflammable needles virtually transform the pine forests into tinder boxes.

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