Singed by forest fires, Goa govt calls up citizens to firefight

PANAJI: With Goa's forest fires that have been ablaze in the biodiversity hotspot of the Western Ghats showing no signs of extinguishing, the government on Saturday decided to formally request citizens, NGOs and volunteers to assist the forest department to douse the fires.
In a first for Goa, the District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) issued directions for community mobilisation and has moved to appoint 10-15 volunteers per forest beat. These volunteers will work in shifts along with the forest department staff to contain the fires.
The state decided to activate the disaster management machinery after the Centre, particularly the Prime Minister's Office and the Union environment ministry took cognisance of TOI reports and directed the state to take proactive steps to put an end to the forest fires.
"The nature of the wildfire is that manpower on the ground is required. Instructions have been issued to all the deputy collectors to mobilise volunteers, NGOs, panchayat members at the ground level. The volunteers have to be fit because it involves trekking and walking into the jungle and sometimes even late at night," North Goa district collector Mamu Hage, who also heads the DDMA, told TOI.
The forest department also issued a desperate plea via social media saying that it "urgently requires volunteers" in Sattari and Mollem-the Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary and the Mollem national park that has been scorched-on Saturday and Sunday to save the burning forests.
Within an hour, several hundred volunteers signed up to go to some of the hotspots, particularly Tambdi Surla, Sigao and Mollem to fight the fire.
Hage said volunteers will now monitor sites where the fires have been doused to ensure that they do not reignite and spread.
As per the directions, the 10-15 community volunteers will work in shifts to prevent fatigue, dehydration and loss of concentration.
"Right now, we need to mobilise people at the community level. The deputy collectors and the talathis will create a duty chart, shift wise, with volunteers. This is being done by the district disaster management authority," she said.
The Centre had asked the state government to request the two district collectors to activate the Disaster Management Machinery and form joint teams involving local community and panchayat bodies for prevention and control of fires. "These teams are to be deployed on field for immediate management of the fire incidents on war-footing," the Union environment ministry said.
Forest minister Vishwajit Rane met with the North Goa collector and other officials on Friday to discuss the firefighting efforts and the need for greater manpower on ground to cover the vast and difficult forest terrain. The volunteers will complement the Air Force and Navy's aerial sorties where Bambi Buckets are being used to dump water on the active fires.
"The whole department along with our youth are motivated to work harder to douse the fire," Rane said.
Since the fires began on March 5, local youth have been part of the firefighting efforts often working through the night to track fires and douse them. The volunteers have been helping the forest department officials on the frontline as fire beaters, clearing dry vegetation, creating fire breaks and even lighting counter fires.
Senior officers from the Goa Forest Department, including the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests Rajiv Gupta, have been camping in the forests to keep a track of the fires.
"We have also noticed that once a fire is doused it needs to be monitored otherwise there is a recurrence, and it spreads again. So, we will appoint volunteers to monitor sites which have been doused for at least 24 hours," Hage said.