 "Watch | IFS officer shares glimpses of challenges posed by forest fires in hilly terrains")
Forest fires have an adverse impact on the environment and are a major cause of destroying the habitat of local flora and fauna.
As per statistics by the Forest Survey of India, Maharashtra is one of the leading forest fire-prone states with the number of incidents doubling from 22,499 in 2019 to 44,809 in 2021. Such incidents mostly occur in the period of January to March every year.
But what does it take to control such incidents?
Jayoti Banerjee, Indian Forest Service officer at the Melghat Tiger Reserve in Amravati, Maharashtra, took to Twitter to share glimpses of how forest officers control such disasters. In the video, officials are clambering down the slopes with heavy blowers to douse the fire in Melaghat’s tough terrain.
Banerjee tweeted the video of the scene with the caption:ย โJust a glimpse as to what it takes to control #ForestFires in tough terrains of #MelghatTigerReserve #Foresters clambering down the slopes with 15kg Blowers to douse the blaze Most Forest Fires r man-made, Accidental or Mischief.. #Foresters risk their lives to douse most!โ
Watch the clip here:
Just a glimpse as to what it takes to control #ForestFires in tough terrains of #MelghatTigerReserve #Foresters clambering down the slopes with 15kg Blowers to douse the blaze
— Jayoti Banerjee ๐ฎ๐ณ (@jayotibanerjee) April 6, 2022
Most Forest Fires r man made, Accidental or Mischief..#Foresters risk their lives to douse most! pic.twitter.com/JmdY8dHNy5
Reacting to the video, a user commented that he hoped it was a demo as it was dangerous to put out such a blazing fire with just four people.
Hope this is a demo vdo, forest fire ๐ฅ something very fierce & dangerous that cant be put off simply by four people
— ๐๐ ๐๐๐ฃ๐ฅ ๐๐๐ (@joferts) April 6, 2022
To this, Banerjee replied that while it was good to be skeptical, the video was real. “Also our #ForestFireTeams have more people. With blowers even a few can control a fire site. Now don’t call the orange flames in background as artificial too..โ she added.
Another user questioned why drones are not used to make the process safe, to which Banerjee replied:
We use #Drones extensively for Monitoring Active #ForestFireSites#MelghatTigerReserve is precipitous terrain.Fires stretches along ridges for kms.
— Jayoti Banerjee ๐ฎ๐ณ (@jayotibanerjee) April 6, 2022
But who knows..With upscaling of tech & more innovators like @elonmusk We may one day tackle #ForestFires with more ease & safety. pic.twitter.com/U1ny8LTI7a
Some of the users even commented on the challenges faced in hilly terrains, to which Banerjee responded several factors, including heavy winds, high temperature and steep slopes make it a challenge to douse forest fires in terrains such as Melghats. She also stated that even after the flames are put out, a simmering stump or ember may fly and set ablaze a fresh patch of forests.
True.
— Jayoti Banerjee ๐ฎ๐ณ (@jayotibanerjee) April 6, 2022
Many Factors make it worse.
If it is too windy, high temperature,steep slopes..
Even after the forest fires are doused, a simmering stump or ember may fly and set ablaze a fresh patch of forests. Specially tough in hilly spots. As in #Melghats.
How do you think can we deal with the issue of forest fires?
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