Uttarakhand Battles Seasonal Forest Fires with Advanced Techniques

Uttarakhand has recorded 375 forest fire incidents between February 15 and May 24 this year, affecting a total area of 319.67 hectares, officials said on Tuesday.

The annual forest fire season is said to start from February 15.

According to official data, Chamoli remained the worst-affected region, accounting for 133 fire incidents this season that damaged 67.29 hectares.

Pauri Garhwal reported 42 incidents affecting 58.5 hectares, followed closely by Dehradun with 34 fires covering 52.46 hectares.

Tehri Garhwal and Rudraprayag recorded 42 and 37 incidents, impacting 39.5 hectares and 25.02 hectares respectively.

Other regions facing forest fires included Pithoragarh with 32 incidents affecting 28.25 hectares, Uttarkashi with 18 incidents affecting 15.85 hectares, and Nainital with 13 incidents covering 17.35 hectares.

Bageshwar reported nine incidents over 5.1 hectares, Champawat recorded eight incidents affecting 6.05 hectares, Almora saw four incidents over 3.1 hectares, and Udham Singh Nagar registered three incidents impacting 1.2 hectares.

Haridwar was the only district to report no forest fire incidents during this period.

Speaking to PTI, Sushant Patnaik, Chief Conservator of Forests and Nodal Officer (Forest Fire), said the integration of resources and technology has strengthened the forest department's firefighting capabilities.

Patnaik said data from the Forest Survey of India plays a crucial role in forest fire dousing operations.

The agency captures satellite imagery of active fires and transmits them to the forest department's forest fire cell, which forwards the coordinates to the respective forest divisions for verification, allowing field teams to carry out targeted extinguishing operations, the official said.

To manage the situation on the ground, the department has operationalised 1,438 crew stations and 40 control rooms across the state, along with an integrated control and command centre at the forest headquarters, Patnaik said, adding that the department has also deployed 5,600 fire watchers.

Speaking about environmental hazards, Patnaik said dry pine needles, locally known as 'pirul', are a major fire risk in Uttarakhand forests.

While 5,600 tonnes of 'pirul' were collected during the previous forest fire season, the department has increased its collection target to 8,500 tonnes for the current year, he added.

(With inputs from agencies.)