M F AHMAD
Daltonganj, Mar 28: Every summer brings in forest fires in the Palamu Tiger Reserve and this time is no different.
Surface fire is erupting in many parts of the tiger reserve. According to the sources, the south division is acutely affected. 70 fire blowers have been pressed in to contain and control the surface fire in the jungles of the South division.
The fire blowers are given alkaliser and lots of jaggery and sattu to overcome the dehydration, as firefighting is stressful.
Forest fires generate intense heat and fighting them without water exposes the blowers to the dangers of dryness of the tongue and skin. The fire blowers don’t wear shoes generally. They are mostly seen wearing slippers. It further exposes them to the hazards in the forest.
Mukesh Kumar, the deputy director south division of PTR said, “Our fire blowers do more of an arduous job than the professional firefighters who are well equipped with gadgets.”
Sources said the fire blowers in the PTR neither have fire-resistant protective body gear nor have hand gloves. They do not use specks as well.
Wildlife savers have demanded that they be given cell phones for better communication from the site of the fire to assess the situation and gravity by the senior officers.
“Our fire blowers are civilians; mostly the locals know how to control the forest fire here and know their job well. They remain well acquainted with the areas, which gives them an added advantage.”
Incidents of forest fire have gone up in the PTR in the last four days. If the sun gets hotter, the chances of strong wind getting too high and then the fire.
A huge fire erupted in the forest of the Naina Sirsi under the Mahuadanr range of the South division of the PTR three days ago.
Mukesh Kumar said that the fire in the PTR is surface fire. There is no tall tree fire unlike Australia, Canada, the USA and other countries where huge long tall trees burn at the top. “The fire here in the PTR does not touch the sky,” he said with relief.
“Surface fire in the PTR occurs every summer and 75 days of the year starting from March 15 onwards is a fire fighting day for all of us as there is no single day here when a surface fire does not break out in any of our multiple beats of the forest,” he added.
However, one consolation is that these surface fires have never burnt any four-footed wildlife to death in the PTR. Mukesh agreed that snakes and other reptiles do suffer in the fire. Biodiversity is a big casualty too. Eggs of birds are lost during the fire.
No forest fire in any tiger reserve, sanctuary etc is doused with water nor any fire tender is rushed to the site. It is often fought with bare minimum facilities and the techniques are all traditional and tested.
“Fire in the PTR is mostly man-made. Mahua fruit pickers trigger a fire. Mahua fruits are used in making local brews. Locals stoop down to any level to collect it,” Mukesh said.
He said leaf fall is enormous in the PTR as the forest is a dry deciduous forest. Where there is bamboo, there is enormous leaf fall and PTR has a large chunk of bamboo.
Mahua fruit pickers burn dry leaves in and around the Mahua trees to pick the fallen fruits and this fire causes devastation. Throwing up lit bidi, cigarette too causes fire in the PTR.
Sources said the PTR officials were quite restive when during the visit of the governor Ramesh Bais in Netarhat on Saturday (March 26), a one-hectare stretch of the jungle at Naina Sirsi in the PTR caught fire.
The fire site was not far from the famous sunset point in Netarhat which the governor had desired to enjoy.
A similar firefighting measure is on in the North division of PTR but here, the incidents of surface fire are considerably less just because the North division is not that heavily forested like the South division, according to a functionary of the PTR.
Sources said deer, elephants, hyenas, jackals, peacocks etc desist from going even near those pockets where a forest fire is raging. Animals have a good sense of fire.
