Reality check on forest fire calls in Northeast

The outbreak of a massive forest fire in the Tawang district in Arunachal Pradesh last week has set off the alarm bell on forest fire vulnerability in other states of the Northeast region as well. The incident calls for conducting a reality check on emergency calls on fire in the region to assess the preparedness for fire season from February to April. The massive fire that broke out in the river belt of the Tawang Chu River below in the Lungla Sub-Division of Tawang quickly spread, posing a threat to many villages. It is reassuring to know that timely intervention by the Lungla administration, with the support of the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) Lungla, Indian Army personnel from the Tawang Brigade, local police, and residents, successfully contained the fire near the village and residential buildings, preventing potential loss of lives and property. Despite these efforts, the wildfire in the jungle continues to burn due to the challenging terrain of steep mountains and dense, inaccessible forest, states an official release, which is reflective of the challenges in the containment of forest fires once they break out, particularly in hilly terrain. Forest fire studies conducted by the Forest Survey of India (FSI) found the region to be falling under an extremely to very highly forest fire-prone zone, and the states of Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland, and Tripura to be exhibiting the highest forest fire probability in terms of its frequency of event occurrence. Devastating forest fires occurring in the Lungeli district in Mizoram and the Dzukou Valley along the Nagaland-Manipur boundary in the past are grim reminders of putting people, administration, and fire and emergency services on maximum alert, particularly in the dry season. Undoubtedly, the forest fire monitoring system has significantly improved with the application of satellite and remote sensing technologies. The real-time alerts issued by FSI are intended to help the states undertake mitigation measures and control and contain large forest fires before they cause widespread devastation. The limitation of financial resources will always limit the capabilities of fire and emergency services, but the strategy of effective coordination among various agencies can scale up the capacities. The advancement of technology has improved forest fire management, but it is the people who can play the most crucial role in the vigilance and monitoring of forest fires. Indigenous communities in the region living in co-existence with nature naturally keep visiting the forest areas near their traditional villages. Building awareness among them to immediately alert the authorities when they come across incidences of forest fire can ensure timely action for containment. Aligning forest fire prevention with climate change mitigation goals is important as rising temperatures have increased the vulnerability in the region. Apart from the loss of forest cover, failure to contain forest fires causes extensive loss of wildlife and leads to the release of more carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, precipitating the global warming crisis. Loss of forest cover in the region has already become a serious issue, with aggressive pushes for development activities resulting in the diversion of forest areas, more particularly for linear infrastructure projects such as the construction of highways, laying of railway tracks, etc. The challenge is to not let forest fire incidents make it worse. This hard reality should put all states in the region on the highest alert against forest fire becoming another major contributing factor for loss of forest cover. The catastrophic wildfire in Los Angeles destroyed over 10,000 residences and other structures, including those of many Hollywood celebrities, and caused the loss of forest over an area of more than 13,000 hectares and led to the the evacuation of over 1.8 lakh people. Described as the worst wildfire in California’s history, the scale of destruction is an eye-opener for the global community and national governments against complacency over current forest fire management and preparedness at a time when global efforts are to mitigate climate change and address the worsening global warming crisis. Expansion of urban settlement closer to forest areas has increased the risk in the region, but fire emergency services have not proportionately been strengthened. Besides, poor connectivity to many places is a major obstacle to timely action by fire and emergency services, particularly in hilly areas of Assam and the hill states. When forest conservation and restoration figures are high on the priority list for the government, forest fire prevention cannot remain low on the list. Increased budgetary allocations by the states for strengthening fire and emergency services are not a choice but an urgent necessity. The requirements in this regard must come from the village-level planning process so that an adequate emergency response system can be developed at an ideal location to respond to fire calls in a cluster of villages within the shortest possible response time. The availability of fire and emergency services and village-level volunteers can help mobilise quick response teams to overcome the problem of the availability of men and materials.