The Odisha government has sought the help of National Remote Sensing Centre, Hyderabad, for providing it satellite images of the fire raging in the forests of Similipal, the second largest biosphere of Asia and other major forests of the state.
The core area of Similipal biosphere includes a tiger reserve in Mayurbhanj district and its periphery areas touch two other districts — Balasore and Keonjhar.
Newly appointed head of the task force for controlling forest fires, Dr Sandeep Tripathi, former Principal chief conservator of forests and head of forest force, told The Telegraph on Tuesday, “We are getting NRSC help and they are sharing images of the fire inside the forest area. Through satellite images, we will be able to know the extent of the damage and the new fires starting at new places. Accordingly, we will chalk out plans to control the fire. Two days ago, they shared the images of 400 hectares of forest burning inside Similipal.”
Fire officials engaged in dousing the blaze in Similipal Telegraph picture
The state government has included head of forest and ecology, NRSC, Hyderabad, as members of the task force constituted on Monday to offer suggestions for improvement of standard operating procedure (SoP) for fire prevention and management to curb such occurrences.
“We are also taking the help of Forest Survey of India (FSI), Dehradun and Indian Council of Forest Research and Education, Dehradun to tackle the growing forest fire incident.
“The DG FSI and representative of Director General, ICFRE have been included in the task force. They will process the data from the satellite and inform about the extent of loss compared to last year. Then we will sit and formulate strategies to contain the spread of fire,” Tripathi said.
“Basing on the satellite images, we are everyday re-deploying and mobilising the personnel in the Similipal forest area to douse the fire. But the intense heat wave has piled upon the misery of people as it helps spread of fire,” said a senior official.
Fire officials engaged in dousing the blaze in Similipal Telegraph picture
The fire in Similipal forest is yet to be doused despite 1,000 forest and fire brigade personnel being put on the task. Meanwhile, the state government has also cancelled leaves of all forest personnel under Baripada Forest Division (Baripada is the headquarters of Mayurbhanj district) for indefinite period.
Assistant fire officer Prakash Kumar Jena, Baripada told this newspaper: “The number of fire calls from the periphery of Similipal has come down to 100. Besides, forest officials and Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF), fire brigade officials are also on the job to douse the fire.”
Forest fires have also been reported from areas in Sambalpur, Sundergarh, Kendrapara and Koraput districts. Official sources said the forest fires have been reported at 918 places across the state.
Though animals, particularly deer have started moving towards villages, Tripathi maintained that not a single animal casualty has been reported so far.
Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF incharge) Jitendra Kumar told the reporters, “Forest fire is nothing new. But as the temperature in February was relatively high compare to other years, there were fire incidents reported from different parts of the state.
“There has been no rain so far. Once it takes place, it will make a big change.”
The state level task force headed by Tripathi has been asked to make a review of ongoing forest fire incidents, causes and immediate containment, suggest measure for augmentation of existing fire management protocols, including Geomatics based fire alert system, recommend suggestions for improved community participation in fire management and prevention, to conduct post assessment of forest fire affected area, loss to wildlife, biodiversity and suggest measures for augmentation.
In another development, Sambalpur forest division announced a cash reward of Rs 5000 for sharing information about people burning dry leaves leading to loss of wild life.
