Drought Raises Forest Fire Threat in Telangana; Dept Mulls Helicopter Procurement To Battle Blazes

While the department has 45 quick reaction teams (QRTs) equipped primarily with blowers in highly vulnerable areas, the department was hoping to go further than just ground based teams. As faster response times meant quicker control of fires, there was a proposal under consideration for requesting the government for purchase of a helicopter equipped with a water bucket.

“Something like this can help in faster access to a fire zone and combating the fire. During fire emergencies it can be pressed into service, and at other times, it can be used by the government for other uses,” Vinay Kumar, principal chief conservator of forests and head of forest force, said.

He also said that the collaboration of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) to fight forest fires, had come as a shot in the arm for the department. Earlier this may, the department, along with the NDRF, conducted mock drills in on tackling forest fires in Asifabad, Jayashankar Bhupalpally, Nagarkurnool, Mulugu, Bhadradri Kothagudem, and Komuram Bheem Asifabad districts, he said.

Typically, the official ‘fire season’ in the state’s forests begins in December, and ends at the onset of the monsoon season in June the following year. While the department is on its way to augment its fire-fighting equipment including blowers, which are the primary means of beating back fires, work is soon expected to begin on clearing fire lines over a length of 21,739 km, which act as fire breaks with strips of land cleared of all combustible materials.

With this year’s fire season expected to be a much more challenging one, officials of Amrabad tiger reserve on Monday held a training session for all their staff on preparedness to combat forest fires. The reserve which is mostly hills and valleys presents a different challenge as most fires cannot be accessed easily, a reserve official said.

Alerts on fires are received through satellite data and it normally takes 30 to 40 minutes before detection and receipt of an alert. To cut this time down to around 10 minutes, the department is now working with the National Remote Sensing Centre (NSRC) directly so the alerts could be received quickly, another senior official said.

“What we have is mostly ground fires from the fallen leaves. Sometimes dead and dry trees may catch fire but Telangana does not see canopy fires, which people usually associate with a fire in a forest,” the official said. “99.99 per cent of all fires are man-made. The best way to fight a fire is by preventing it and the department, every year, reaches out to people in all habitations on forest fringes and inside to impress upon them on being careful, the official added.

The department is also exploring backpack sprayers that can carry around 15 litres of water but the fine spray can help contain a ground fire in up to an acre, the official said that if the department manages to procure around 200 of them, they will act as force multipliers in fighting fires.