THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Soaring mercury levels have led to an alarming rise in the number of fire-related incidents in the state. And, this is keeping the authorities on their toes. According to the fire department, the number of fire-related incidents nearly doubled over the last two months. The department received 2,985 fire-related distress calls in February, against 1,546 in January. The number of forest fires jumped from 95 in January to 302 in February.
In 2022, a total of 247 fire-related incidents were reported in designated forest areas. In the first two months of this year alone nearly 400 such incidents have been reported. In view of the scorching summer, people should take extra care while handling fire to avoid casualties and fire-related accidents, B Sandhya, director general of Kerala Fire and Rescue Services, told TNIE.
According to officials, the majority of the incidents are linked to the burning of garbage and dry leaves. “The public should behave responsibly, and if garbage needs to be burned the fires should not be left unattended. They should stay until the fire is doused properly. It’s summer time and even a small fire can cause huge accidents,” Sandhya said.
Kerala has around 129 fire stations. But the existing infrastructure is proving to be inadequate to deal with the growing number of fire incidents caused by the climate crisis. According to an earlier study, the state requires a minimum of 228 fire stations to minimise response time. “We need more staff and the government need to triple the present strength. More fire stations are becoming necessary and its high time the government takes measures to strengthen the department,” said a senior official of the fire department.
The increase in forest fires is proving to be a huge challenge for the fire department. “We have to walk for kilometres to douse fires deep in the forests. It’s a struggle as there is a severe shortage of staff in each station. In other countries, choppers are used for dousing wildfires. It takes several days as we are literally doing it manually as the majority of these areas are inaccessible and fire tenders cannot reach the location,” the official added.