Nilgiris to develop fire-line-scrapping to curb forest fire

Udhagamandalam: The forest department has started to develop fire-line-scrapping, wherein it will remove vegetation for six metres surrounding every block of 10 hectares, in the Nilgiris forest division to curb the spread of forest fire.
The move comes close on the heels of the forest department successfully trying out the method in Korakundha forest area that caught fire a week ago. The fire-line-scrapping was also employed near Lovedale on Tuesday when forest fire broke out in a private land there.
Saravana kumar, assistant conservator of forests, said 10 hectares of forest land was completely destroyed in the fire at Korakundha forest area. “The fire spread to Korakundha forest from Kerala forest as dried grass was present between the two forest areas. Hence, we proposed the plan to develop fire-line-scrapping across the Nilgiris division of forests to prevent such incidents in future,” he said.
Meanwhile, in view of the prevailing dry season in the Nilgiris and especially in forest areas, a mock drill on fire prevention and firefighting will be conducted for forest staff attached to the Nilgiris division of forests soon, the assistant conservator of forest said.
With the dry winter weather still prevailing, forests in the Nilgiris, including the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve, have gone dry. Normally, February and March are the months when forest fire occurs in the mountain district due to the long dry spell.