Fighting fire with fire, Una Forest Department takes preventative measures before summer
Rajesh Sharma
Una, March 14
The Una Divisional Forest Department initiated a series of measures to keep a check on fire incidents in the area and prevent the spread of these fires in the forest cover.
As part of the initiative, the department created 40-km fire lines in the government forest land of the district. Divisional Forest Officer (Una) Sushil Rana said the total government forest land in the district was 21,188 hectares, of which 4,392 hectares was reserved forest area. Additionally, 4,390 hectares was demarcated protected forest, while the remaining 12,405 hectares was under the undemarcated protected forest category.
Fire lines are strips of forest cover, on which controlled burning of bushes and dry organic matter is done to create barriers against the spread of fires in forests, thereby reduce damage to vegetation and wildlife.
The fire lines are maintained every year prior to the summers, Rana said, adding that 161 hectares of controlled burning of dry vegetation on the forest floor in pine forests was also been done since pine needles contain rosin — a highly combustible material that helps fires spread quickly.
He said trenches were also dug on the forest floor prone to fires. Water fills up these trenches during rainfall, making the ground moist and preventing the spread of fire, he added.
As a preventive measure, the Una Forest Division will employ the help of a fire watcher in each of the 66 beats of Forest Guards. These fire watchers are set to be on duty from 1 April to 15 July, the peak summer season. The Forest Division also has a range-level rapid-firefighting team comprising of 6-7 persons, who respond to fire incidents. The teams are monitored at the divisional-level by the Assistant Conservator of Forests.
Rana said the Forest Survey of India, Dehradun, has a satellite imagery monitoring system and any smoke billowing out from any forest in the country is tracked, and the information gets automatically sent to the cell phones of Forest Guard, Range Officer and DFO concerned instantly.
Joint Forest management committees and Village Forest Development Societies, formed in panchayats bordering government forests, have been constituted by the Forest Department. These bodies actively keep a watch on the forested land and participate in firefighting operations, he said.
Rana added that the department was improving the digital front and recently, a computer software called Fire Incident Reporting Engine (FIRE) had been developed. All fire incidents have to be recorded by department officials in the software in two stages, the first being the ocular assessment of damage and the second being the actual assessment after monsoons as some of the damaged vegetation sprouts up during the monsoons.
Rana said annual plantation drives in the district were yielding good results with an over 70 per cent survival rate. During the current financial year, aforestation was done on 112 hectares, he said, adding that one particular patch of 15 hectares of plantation in Tanda Bhagwan village of the Ramgarh forest range in Kutlehar Assembly segment witnessed a 99 per cent survival rate.
How fire lines work
Fire lines are strips of forest cover, on which controlled burning of bushes and dry organic matter is done to create barriers for spread of fires in forests, thereby reduce damage to vegetation and wildlife.
How does digging trenches help?
Trenches are dug on the forest floors prone to fires. Water fills up the trenches during rainfalls, making the ground moist, and preventing the spread of fire.
