Uttarakhand is currently experiencing a severe forest fire crisis, as the flames are escalating in every passing hour.
High temperature, aridity, clear sky and calm winds are the major reasons behind increasing rate of forest fire globally. It was frequently observed in USA last year. What about India? Are forests susceptible to catching fire in India? “Generally, forests in southern India are less prone to fires as the vegetation type is largely evergreen or semi-evergreen. On the contrary, the forests in northeast India, Odisha , Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand are largely covered with dry deciduous forests, making them more vulnerable to fires during November to June period,” a Forest Survey of India (FSI) report said.
In this article we will discuss about ongoing forest fire in Nainital.
As per recent forest department report: “The fire that broke out in the forest near Nainital district headquarters took a horrific form, posing a threat to the residents of High Court Colony located in the Pines area. In the last 24 hours, 31 new incidents of forest fire were reported from various parts of the state, destroying 33.34 hectares of forest land.”
“The fire has engulfed an old and vacant house located near The Pines. It has not caused any damage to High Court Colony but it has reached dangerously close to the buildings. Efforts have been made to control the fire since evening,” a resident told to news agency.
This led to traffic congestion in multiple areas.
"We have deployed 40 Manora Range personnel and two forest rangers to extinguish the fire," Nainital Divisional Forest Officer Chandrashekhar Joshi told the news agency.
Currently, the Nainital district administration has stopped boating activities in Naini Lake. Based on the gravity of the situation helicopters may also be employed if the situation goes beyond control.
By end of March 2024, “Over rest of the country, the highest number of forest fires were reported from Mizoram (3,738), Manipur (1,702), Assam (1,647), Meghalaya (1,229) and Chhattisgarh (1,183),” FSI reported.
ISRO Satellite data revealed that the “forest fires have been on an uptick since early March along Konkan belt in Maharashtra, south-coastal Gujarat along Gir Somnath and Porbandar, southern Rajasthan and adjoining south-western districts of Madhya Pradesh, most forest covered areas of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.”
“High EHF values prevailed also over interior Tamil Nadu , coastal and interior Odisha and adjoining Jharkhand,” the IMD said.
For last 10 days, forest fires have been observed in the Coonoor forest range in the Nilgiris in Tamil Nadu. “On Sunday, the Indian Air Force deployed Mi-17 V5 helicopters to conduct Bambi Bucket operations that discharged 16,000 litres of water, joining the ongoing efforts by the state forest department to douse the wild fires,” as per recent reports.
Initially, the experts suspected heatwave and climate change behind the forest fire. However, the reason is somewhat different here. The forest fire in Nainital is totally man-made. Generally, rural people in Nainital set fire in several parts of forest to get space for their sheeps to graze. The same thing happened this time. Three men were seen setting fire in Jakholi and Rudraprayag. The forest department with the police has arrested them.
“From November 1 last year, a total of 575 incidents of forest fire have been reported in the state, affecting 689.89 hectares of forest area and costing the state more than ₹14 lakh,” as per report submitted by Uttarakhand Forest department.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has asked the officials to stay alert and take essential steps to prevent the fires.
