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Heat wave sets Himachal hills ablaze

George Iype in Shimla

The pines, firs, oaks and rhododendron covering the green slopes and hills of Himachal Pradesh, the coolest holiday destination, are virtually on fire this summer.

Officially, 1,110 cases of fire, affecting 23,605 hectares of thick forests, hill stations, ridges and valleys are ravaging different districts in the state.

But unofficially hundreds of small and medium fires are fast destroying the thick forests of the hill state and making Himachal's ravishing pine zones a tinderbox.

Panic-stricken, the Himachal Pradesh government has sought Australian help to douse the fires.

Australia, where forest fires are frequent, is believed to have the best technical expertise in the world to manage them and save precious forest wealth.

According to S K Pande, principal chief conservator of forests in Himachal Pradesh, the fires that have engulfed the state are "unprecedented".

"If we do not act now, the worst will happen. The fires will blaze up and destroy the best of our forests and pines," he told Rediff On The NeT.

He said that nearly 75 per cent of the fires have occurred in the pine zones. The maximum number has been reported from the districts of Kangra, Sirmaur, Mandi, Kullu and Bilaspur.

Stating that Himachal is India's most fire-prone state, the chief conservator cited three causes for the hills being afire. First, the unprecedented dry spell and low humidity in the state. Second, the rising temperature igniting the resinous vapours of the pine zone. Third, the negligence of villagers.

"Himachal Pradesh has been hit by a drought-like condition as there have been no rains in the past three months. This has led to lack of moisture in the forests, which are covered by a thick layer of highly inflammable pine needles," Pande said.

Thus, a spark from the exhaust of a vehicle is enough to set off a blaze.

Pine needles fall in a period of three months and the dry spell and heat wave this summer have made the forests more susceptible to fires, Pande said.

If the blaze continues unabated, fire officials say, it would be the worst fire since 1995 when some 1,700 blazes ravaged more than 54,000 hectares of forest land.

In 1995, the financial loss due to the fires was worth about Rs50 million. This year, government officials say, it could run into several million more.

Fire officials say the negligence of the villagers also results in the spread of the fires as they throw lighted matchsticks and cigarette butts about in the forests. They also set grazing pastures ablaze to enable fresh grass to grow. In the past two weeks, the fire department has arrested five persons for intentionally causing fires in the forests.

To combat the fires, the Himachal government has chalked out a five-year plan. To begin with, it will soon set up a forest fire institute with Australian technical collaboration to impart training to the state's forest officials.

Australia has already granted a loan of US $60,000 to set up the Indo-Australian Training and Capacity Building Project at Katla in Kangra district.

According to Pande, the project will train a new 'forest police force' to protect the forests from fires and rehabilitate them suitably while the new institute will help the fire department get an exclusive wireless network.

The fire department has also created 960km of 'firelines' across the forests at a cost of about Rs10 million.

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