DEHRADUN: With winter nearly over, it’s time for the forest fire season to start in Uttarakhand, but the state authorities claim to be prepared to deal with it.
The state has lost a massive 24,139 hectares of forest area in last 12 years in 13,574 blazes. Forest fires in the hills usually start around mid-February and rage on till monsoon arrives.
The state forest department has of late turned to social media to monitor and check forest fires.
The department had in 2019 launched official handles on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to allow people to alert officials about fires. It is employing technological tools, apart from traditional methods, to upgrade preparations.
“We have completed preparations to deal with forest fires, including the precautionary exercise of rotational burning, controlled burning, conducting mock drills and maintenance of fire lines, community participation and awareness programmes,” said Parag Madhukar Dhakate, chief wildlife warden of Uttarakhand.
Volunteers have been recruited and three drones have been pressed into service. With 40 control rooms and an IT and Geoinformation Cell in Dehradun which manages 1,437 crew stations and 174 watch towers across the state, officials claimed to have controlled forest fires to a large extent.