After analysing the data, Forest Department has come to a conclusion that majority of the fires are man-made

Alarmed by the extraordinarily high number of fire alerts received during four consecutive days last week, the Telangana Forest Department has decided to step up the forest fire prevention measures across the divisions in the State.

Officials have received a total of 7,700 fire alerts since January 1 this year, of which 2,815 alerts were received between March 5 and 8. Of these, ground verification was done for 4,561 instances and 4,460 fires were confirmed. A total of 8,329 hectares of forest has been reportedly burnt.

The department has declared 2018 as ‘Zero Forest Fire Year’. Based on a study which zeroed in on the divisions and villages in the proximity of which majority of the fires were reported, officials have listed a slew of measures to control the fires.

The rise in the fire instances was discussed in a video conference held on Friday, where top officials directed field staff to deploy the services of ‘Green Brigade’ members for door-to-door counselling in the villages.

Green brigades were created as part of Telanganaku Haritha Haaram, the government’s flagship afforestation programme, and consists of about five lakh civil society members across the State.

“March is the month when 40% of the fires happen. This is when trees prepare for summer by shedding leaves, and dry leaves catch fire easily,” says P. Raghuveer, Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, who was instrumental in compiling the forest fire data between 2004 and 2017.

After analysing the data, the department has come to a conclusion that majority of the forest fires in Telangana are man-made. “We concluded Tendu leaf sale in the first week of March, and immediately after that, the number of fire instances has gone up,” Mr. Raghuveeru said.

‘Deliberate’

The department suspects deliberate burning of forest so that the new flush of Tendu leaves can be collected without much effort. The instances are especially high in Kothagudem, Warangal and Adilabad circles, and among divisions, Yellandu and Venkatapuram top the list.

“In Yellandu, we have sourced the fire to the burning of crop in encroached lands, and the plots given under the Forest Rights Act, which are still shown as forest lands. In Venkatapuram, we suspect the fire could have been triggered by beedis thrown by careless smokers,” Mr. Raghuveer notes.

There have been fires detected in the lands of the Forest Development Corporation too, due to weed burning. With the help of satellites, detection of forest fires has become easier over the years. The data collected by the National Remote Sensing Centre is transmitted by the Forest Survey of India to officials responsible, through SMS alerts. Between 2004 and 2017, a total of 12,537 forest fires were detected by the satellites, increasing in number by the year . However, officials say the data is not indicative of increasing instances every year, but only of better detection.

“Instead of one satellite previously, we are now getting alerts from two. The technological advances have resulted in better detection. Some times, more than two alerts may be sent about the same fire,” Mr. Raghuveer says.