Equip staff to control forest fires

Soaring temperatures have increased the duration of fire season, and there is growing evidence for more frequent and severe wildfires, causing the release of more carbon soaked up in the trees and organic soil. A new study reported in the journal Science reveals that the emissions from wildfires in the forests of Siberia, Alaska, and Canada (the vast boreal forests) are increasing at an alarming rate. Boreal forests cover nearly one-tenth of the world’s area and hold one-third of the carbon stored in forests and lands. The study further adds that the forests will degrade and become net carbon emitters, overtaking notorious tropical peat-land fires, as experienced in Indonesia in 2015.

With each passing year, natural vegetation is being degraded, causing changes in species composition. Moist species are replaced by drier species, which are more prone to fire. It is generally caused and aggravated by human action. Often, forests at the periphery are deliberately set on fire for the illegal occupation of land and agriculture. Many a time, the fire runs through inaccessible areas and forests continue to burn for weeks. Such areas deep inside have a higher dry fuel load with invasive species like lantana, dead wood, and dry and flowered bamboo that aid the burning and make control difficult. With prolonged heat waves and increasing degradation of forests, fire spreads, and the ground fire takes the shape of a crown fire. The dead and standing trees get into the flames, leading to an increasingly uncontrollable fire.

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Sanctuaries and National Parks (Protected Areas, or PAs) are areas of high biodiversity value that suffer huge biodiversity losses. Our findings indicate that fires in PAs, which are Tiger Reserves, have taken up to two weeks to control. It has taken more than 10 days to control the fire in Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary, Goa, despite engaging Army and Navy helicopters for aerial spraying of water.

The Union Environment Ministry claims that there is very little damage to biodiversity and that it too will recover in a few years, but this is completely untrue. Young regeneration is burned even in ground fire, and forests are degenerated and degraded. It may take decades to reach the pre-fire stage, provided it is rigidly protected from fire and biotic interferences. Many incidents of fire have been registered in Karnataka recently.

The areas are so vast that if the fire is not controlled in the initial 6 to 8 hours, it will spread sufficiently, and any amount of water sprayed by helicopters will be insufficient. California, Brazil, and southern Europe have seen month-long fires in 2021 and 2022. Damage due to bushfires in Australia is also unprecedented. Despite the fact that developed countries devote all of their resources to reducing forest fires, more than 10 million hectares of forest are burned each year.

Forest departments are adopting fire control measures like early burning of fire lines to divide forests into a number of fire blocks and engaging additional staff to put out any fire that runs through dry leaves and fuel loads on the floor of the forests. The main advantage of the fire blocks is that they prevent the spread of the fire into adjoining blocks. Each beat guard has been given modern firefighting equipment such as leaf blowers to clear the fire line and fire beating sticks, among other things.These equipment are utilised in areas where vehicles go. A firefighting team generally treks long distances in inhospitable terrain and finds it difficult to carry the equipment. Fire is fought there with traditional methods like beating with green twigs.

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The department should be more judicious in making funds available for it. Staffs also need to maintain their fitness and must be subjected to regular training and firefighting drills. Their sincerity has to be appreciated; they have even sacrificed their lives in dousing fire. Depending on the direction of the wind, they must know when to withdraw.

In 2017, a Forest Guard Murigeppa, while controlling fire, was caught in the flames of lantana burning in the Gundre Range of Bandipur Tiger Reserve. The place was filled with smoke, and he inhaled CO and CO2, fell unconscious, received severe burn injuries, and died. A month ago, deputy range forest officer Manjunath and forest guard Sundaresh sustained burn injuries when they were dousing forest fires. Both were hospitalised, and Sundaresh succumbed to his injuries the next day. Manjunath is recovering and has been advised not to expose himself to the sun for two years.

Forest fires are usually started by local villagers, and despite sincere attempts, the forest department fails to enlist their support. Never the less, community engagement must be continued.

Control of forest fires is necessary for climate change mitigation. It is a double whammy as CO2 stored in the wood is released in the atmosphere, and also the carbon sequestration potential of the forests is destroyed.

(The writer is a retired principal chief conservator of forests, Karnataka.)