Ooty: Drawing of fire prevention lines, popularly known as fire-lines, over a stretch of 600-km in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR) and 30-kms in Mukurthi National Park (MNP) is underway, as threats from forest fires loom large in dry weather conditions in the hills.
Jungle management becomes tough usually during the first three months of the calendar year as the continuing hot weather and frost make the forests brittle as vegetative cover begins to dry. This year, however, with a deficit rainfall due to a failed monsoon, jungle management has already become a tough task.
Stating that works for the fire-line has begun already, Mr.V.A.Saravanan, deputy director of MTR, said that it has been proposed to draw fire-lines over a stretch of 600-km across the sprawling MTR jungles that is spread over 321 sq. km. In MNP near Ooty, a fire-line will be drawn over a stretch of around 30-km.
“The fire prevention line is about clearing twigs and bushes at the particular breadth and length across the jungles by burning them as this will act as a barrier to prevent wild fires from spreading from one sector to the other in case of the occurrence of forest fires.
While 50 fire watchers are already on duty, a couple of disaster management teams which are well equipped with forest fire fighting techniques are ready to respond to any emergency arising out of forest fires,” Mr.Saravanan explained.
