The Forest and Wildlife Department has started measures in the South and North Wayanad forest divisions to keep forest fire at bay during the summer season.
This include construction of fire lines, engaging fire watchers, and campaigns to sensitise the public, especially those in the villages on the fringes of the forest.
The ‘fire season’ in the district is from December middle to May end.
“We have started to erect nearly 211 km of fire lines in the three forest ranges under the North Wayanad Forest Division, including 80 km in the Begur forest range and 65.5 km each in the Periya and Mananthavady forest ranges,” North Wayanad forest divisional officer R. Keerthi told The Hindu.
Proposals submitted
Proposals have been submitted to execute controlled burning in areas prone to wildfires, Ms. Keerthi said.
“We are planning to deploy fire gangs this year and as many as 28 such gangs have been constituted. Each gang consists of four to five members and will be deployed after January 15. They will be provided essential equipment to douse fire,” she said.
“The intensity of fuel accumulation in the division was low as there was rainfall in many parts of the division a few weeks ago,” she said.
“We have decided to erect close to 130 km fire lines on the fringes of forests in the three forest ranges under the South Wayanad Forest Division and nearly 60% of the works have been completed,” South Wayanad forest divisional officer P. Ranjith said.
“Controlled burning will be initiated in close to 15 hectares of grasslands on the Chembra and Elembileri peaks, two fire prone areas in the Meppadi forest range under the forest division, as a part of safety measures,” Mr. Ranjith said.
He said 25 fire gangs had been constituted and 12 temporary ‘machans’ (watch towers on treetops) would also be erected in various parts of the division. As many as 12 forest awareness camps would be conducted for the public.