Man-made forest fires scorch 3,400 ha

HYDERABAD: The forest fire on Tuesday in the Domalpenta forest range of Amrabad Tiger Reserve in Nagarkurnool district that scorched around 15 hectares of forest land is not a one-off occurrence. Across Telangana, as many as 3,525 forest fires were recorded till Wednesday since the start of the year, as per data available with the Telangana forest department.

Worryingly, the data reveals that a majority of the forest fires are recorded in districts that are home to protected forest areas like National Parks, wildlife sanctuaries and tiger reserves, which include Nirmal (491 forest fires), Mulugu (422), Nizamabad (292), Nagarkurnool (291), Mahabubabad (288), Jagtial (284), Adilabad (269), Kothagudem (256), Asifabad (240), Mancherial (177), etc. 

The forest fire numbers are expected to increase exponentially in the coming months and by the end of the year, the total number of forest fires in Telangana exceed 10,000. These forest fires come at a heavy price.
The 3,525 forest fires have resulted in the damage of 3415.52 hectares of forest land in the State. Nagarkurnool, bore the heaviest toll of all the districts, at 618 hectares. 

Speaking to Telangana forest department officials revealed that a majority of the forest fires are man-made. For example, officials say the forest fire in Amrabad tiger reserve could have been caused by devotees travelling to Srisailam. Many passers-by usually light campfires at night or fire to cook food inside the forest areas. 

A senior official of the Telangana forest department said that the most common reasons behind people deliberately starting a forest fire are to boost the regeneration of beedi leaves after collection, to boost regeneration of grass for pasture or to undertake podu cultivation. 

Apart from these, there are also incidents wherein the forest fires occur accidentally, when people travelling through forests light the fire and do not extinguish it properly or when fire is lit in agricultural fields adjacent to forests and it spreads inside the forest as well. 

A forest official from Nagarkurnool pointed out that one way to reduce the forest fires inside Amrabad tiger reserve would be to restrict the movement of devotees going to Srisailam inside the tiger reserve but it would require strong political will. 

Other likely triggers

 Beedi cultivators light fires to regenerate leaves
 Fire is commonly used in Podu cultivation
 Blaze could have spread from an agricultural field
 Camp-fires lit by travellers