Uttarakhand forest fire: Choppers carry water, but that’s just a drop in fire ocean

Two MI-17 choppers were pressed into service on Sunday to spray water over the burning forests of Nainital and Pauri.

Congress targets Centre over forest fires in Uttarakhand

Loaded with water — they have the capacity to carry about 3,000 litres each — they will continue to spray water over Almora, Chamoli and Pauri over the next few days. The IAF has also deployed another helicopter, 1 ALH, to assist the local administration.

“The MI-17 which filled water from Bhimtal lake and the one from Srinagar, Garhwal, made a couple of sorties with water but it remains to be seen how effective it is because the water doesn’t necessarily fall at the exact affected spot,” says B P Gupta, the Principal Conservator of Forests and nodal officer. “The best method of course remains the traditional one, which is beating the fire down. We are training the NDRF personnel as they have not dealt with this kind of thing before.”

The Uttarakhand High Court has asked the state government to report the extent of damage caused by the fires to it by Monday. Besides, a four-member Central team of experts has been sent, and will submit its report to the Ministry of Home Affairs within a week.

WATCH: IAF team spraying water over forest area in Srinagar & Koteshwar as #UttarakhandForestFire continues to ragehttps://t.co/Bz0n0FvPpX

— ANI (@ANI_news) May 1, 2016

WATCH: Operation underway to douse #UttarakhandForestFire which has now spread across 2270 hectares of forest areahttps://t.co/CHO3FPjmj7

— ANI (@ANI_news) May 1, 2016

Caused either intentionally or due to negligence, forest fires are an yearly summer phenomenon in Uttarakhand — as in other hill states —but the absence of winter rains, intermittent April rains and less humidity made it a lethal cocktail this year. Villagers are said to often set fire to leaves and the ground in order to get a good cover of grass the following year and to get rid of the slippery chir pine needles that are highly combustible.

WATCH: IAF fight to douse Uttarakhand forest fire 

Besides fighting the flames, active fire spots are also being identified with the help of satellite data so that the choppers can rush straight to the spot and take corrective steps speedily, he said.

Almora: Visuals of #UttarakhandForestFire, 2270 hectares of forest area across 5 districts of Uttarakhand affected pic.twitter.com/fIkqiWDI7X

— ANI (@ANI_news) May 1, 2016

There have also been allegations of the timber mafia burning down the forests. “Instances where fires have been started by the timber mafia may be there but are very few. Where we have come to know of such cases, we have registered cases. We have not been caught unprepared, it’s just that the intensity of the fire is very strong this time,” says Gupta.

With most of these fires raging in remote areas, accessibility also remains a huge problem. However, questions continue to be raised over the administration’s preparedness and also the need for long-term solutions for an old problem. “Since we had no rain since September, the fires started early this year, in the beginning of February. We could all see them. Helicopters and all are fine in crisis but leaves and chir pine needles should have been cleared in time. Also, there are processes to get electricity from chir pine needles. Those should be explored so that they can be used and not burnt to get rid off,” says Nainital-based historian and writer Shekhar Pathak, who has done exhaustive research on the Himalayas.

“In many cases, the forests start from the reserve forests and spread to the panchayat forests. It has to be a united effort that includes the forest department and people. After all, people depend on the forests for their livelihood and it is in their interests to protect the forests,” adds Pathak, citing the case of Gajwada village in Pauri where seven villagers died in 2009 trying to control the fires that had overrun their panchayat forests.

Near Purkul, a team of 10 is hard at work at the Forest Fire Protection Master Control Room. Raj Kumar Saini, who is manning the wireless, takes a call that informs him of a fire in Surasoon village in Tehri. “Our master station, which falls in the Mussoorie division, works in two ways. We have about 30 crew stations spread across the division with one member each. Every day at 12 pm, they call us and give us the temperature and humidity in their area and we then tell them what the fire hazard is in those conditions. We also receive calls informing us of forest fires,” says Gautam Chettri, beat area in charge.

The station, that works 24×7 in the peak fire months from mid-February to mid-June, has been getting about a call or two every day.

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