A Case Study of Forest Fire in Tamilnadu

Why in news?

A massive forest fire has happened at Kurangani forest on the Western Ghats in Theni district of Tamil Nadu.

What are the causalities of the recent forest fire?

The Kurangani fire turned into a disaster as 36 trekkers were stuck on the mountains.
With their regular trekking route cut off by the fire, many panicked and lost their direction.
While a number of trekkers were injured in falls, as many as 16 persons lost their lives.
In the immediate aftermath of fire, there is a temporary loss of food and shelter, causing displacement of territorial birds and mammals, upsetting the ecological balance.

What are the reasons of forest fire?

Forest fires may be caused by different factors like natural causes, including lightning, but 99% of the fires in the forests are man-made.

Encroachers -Attempts to encroach upon forest lands, renewal of pastures or regain agricultural land at the expense of forests.
Fire caused by poachers and timber smugglers to destroy evidence of illegal activities or merely fire by miscreants or burning of waste in illegal dumps.
Act of Locals - It is also suspected that the locals might set fire in order that there may be growth of fresh grass for their cattle, or to shift cultivation patterns on the hills.
Careless deed -A smouldering fire, not stamped out properly, leftover by travellers, campers and picnickers.
It can even might be of a spark that has escaped from a deliberate one on agricultural lands or from controlled burning elsewhere.

What actions needs to be taken to respond to forest fire?

While fires rage in forests every summer and are controlled from spreading too far by forest officials running a fire line and shearing the land of any vegetation for a significant area.
Better monitoring of reserve forest areas and keeping a close watch on fire-prone spots have been recommended.
State government need to appoint temporary fire watchers for this purpose at the same time government need to take measures to fill the vacancies in the forest departments.
Forest department should have a special unit of disaster management and rescue team to respond such incidents in near future.
Thus minimisation of loss of life has to be prioritised by the respective governmentsas the forests fires have the tendency to change wildlife and human habitats.

Source: The Hindu