Forest fires give tough time in West dists as mercury continues to soar

COIMBATORE: As summer sizzles, tackling forest fires has become a herculean task for the Forest Department in the Western region.

Until last week, the frontline staff of the Forest Department was on their toes to douse fires that broke out in Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve (STR), Anamalai Tiger Reserve (ATR) and as well in Coimbatore forest division.

However, the recent widespread rains gave some respite for the personnel reducing the risk of fire outbreaks. As many as 12 incidents of fires have been reported in STR since its first outbreak on February 15, this year.

“Of this, only two fires; in the Erode forest division and another in STR were massive and challenging to douse as the outbreak was in steep rocky areas, which were inaccessible and also had dense growth of tall grass. Others were minor fires and extinguished within 12 hours. Forest fires are normally high once every five years or so, when biomass gets accumulated in huge quantities. This is a cycle that repeats,” said K Rajkumar, Conservator and Field Director of Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve (STR).

Even though an exact assessment is yet to be done, the Forest Department has estimated the area of burning due to fire outbreaks to be around 70 to 80 hectares in the STR, so far this year. On an average 30 to 40 cases of fire outbreaks were reported in the whole of Erode district in the previous years.

Among multiple causes, a fire vulnerability mapping has revealed anthropogenic pressures to be the topmost reason for such outbreaks.

“Villagers sometimes instigate fires to trigger regenerative growth of grass used in making brooms. It is very difficult to track down the culprits. Another major reason is negligence by pilgrims visiting temples in forest areas, while there are also instances of sparks from electric lines causing fires. As tourism is yet to pick up in STR, there is not much threat from tourists. Apart from creating fire lines, the people in villages adjoining forests are sensitised on the dos and don’ts as part of prevention measures,” Rajkumar said.

In the Coimbatore forest division, eight incidents of forest fires have led to burning of 13.45 hectares in Madukkarai, Sirumugai, Boluvampatti, and Karamadai ranges till March 15, this year. However, much damage was done in the latest incident of fire outbreak on April 11 in Madukkarai forest range, which is one of severe in terms of intensity and took longer by a week to douse.

The fire necessitated the Forest Department to deploy an Indian Air Force (IAF) chopper for the first time to douse the fire by bringing water from Malampuzha dam in neighbouring Kerala.

“Though fire spread out in an area of around 200 hectares, including large rocky portions, the real damage happened only in around 30 hectares. Only patches of dry grass and dead bamboo were burnt, while no damage happened to wildlife,” said an official.

In the Anamalai Tiger Reserve (ATR), a major fire burnt large swathes of grass hills in Valparai forest range in February end. Another fire ravaged through the grasslands in ‘Varaiattuparai’ hills near Valparai last week.

Even though fire outbreaks have become rampant in a majority of areas, the Forest staff in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR) is breathing easy. Conservator and Field Director of MTR D Venkatesh said there were no fires in Mudumalai last year and so far this year due to timely preventive measures.

“Fire outbreaks were prevented successfully as fire lines were created on time in vulnerable areas like tourism zones and along the roads. Also, monitoring was enhanced by deploying staff and vehicles. There were no fires due to proper and effective preventive measures adopted by the department,” he said. As part of preventive mechanism, fire-lines were created in the entire MTR. “There is no need to impose restrictions on tourists as they are allowed only in non-vulnerable areas,” Venkatesh said.