Forest department braces up as ‘fire season’ begins in Uttarakhand

The fire season, starting on Monday, may see a spike in fire incidents as temperatures rise in the hills of Uttarakhand. The time from February 15 to June 15 in the state is the ‘fire season’ as per the documents of the Forest Department. Uttarakhand has already felt the heat of the flames at this time between the end of winter and the arrival of monsoon. This time there were incidents of fire in winter too.

According to the forest department, the winter rains decreased this time. In such a situation, the moisture in the forests was low and incidents of fire came out.

The forest department got relief from the intermittent rains, but now due to the hot sunny weather, the forest department has braced up to tackle forest fires. This time, where 40 master control rooms have been created to deal with forest fire, accounts of the department created on social media have been activated to exchange information of fires in forests.

Can use SDRF equipments in case of emergency

Chief Minister Trivendra Singh has told the forest department that they can also use the equipment of SDRF (State Disaster Response Force) if needed. This time a motorbike squad has also been fielded by forest department for prevention of forest fire.

Budget of 12 crores, six thousand personnel

The budget of the Forest Department to fight forest fires is more than Rs 12 crore. During the fire season, more than six thousand watchers will be deployed, and besides this, congregations will also be in the field for awareness through songs etc.

Forest Minister Harak Singh says that the fire season is from February 15 to June 15, but now the forest department has to remain alert throughout the year. In view of this, the fire season preparation has been decided to be done throughout the year.