Increasing forest fires put settlements in peril

By Nayak Paudel/Babu Ram Devkota,Kathmandu/Sindhuli, Mar. 15: The forest fires that expanded to human settlements across the country have destroyed dozens of houses. However,  the country lacks resources to prevent and put out wildfire. 

In Kummayak Rural Municipality of Panchthar district alone, seven houses got destroyed in the fire that ripped through the nearby community forest since March 10.

The fire that expanded from the community forest nearby Hattipokhari in Ward No. 3 of Kummayak destroyed four houses on March 10, resulting in damage worth Rs. 3.5 million. 

In another recent incident, the fire from the same community forest expanded to two houses owned by Som Bahadur Khadka and Dil Bahadur Khadka in Ward No. 3 on Monday. Both the houses were completely turned to ashes.

“The forest fire is still expanding in Hattipokhari area. We have sought help from security forces to help prevent it from expanding to human settlements,” said Bam Prasad Lawati, chairman of Kummayak Rural Municipality.

Talking to The Rising Nepal, Lawati said that the rural municipality had no proper resources to tackle forest fire. “We deploy people to put out forest fire. We cut trees and dig holes to prevent it from expanding. However, geographical difficulties make it impossible to prevent wildfire from expanding further,” he added.

The scenario is similar in the neighbouring district of Tehrathum. On February 24, wildfire from Khaireni Nibutar Community Forest in Ward No. 8 of Aathrai Rural Municipality expanded to the nearby settlement and engulfed 14 houses, damaging properties amounting to over Rs. 9.2 million. 

Four more houses in Ward No. 5 of Aathrai and Chhathar Rural Municipality were gutted on Sunday.

According to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA), a total of 74 incidents of forest fire have been reported until Monday since January 1, 2023. 

Three individuals, all from Kalikot district, died during the period. 

Nepal is estimated to have been losing around 200,000 hectares of forest cover every year since 2005 due to forest fires; however, the country, whose 40 per cent of land is covered by forest, has no proper preventive plans and resources to tackle the disaster.

Officials argue that the damages are far serious than those seen in the surface as many important vegetation and wildlife get destroyed in wildfire.

Locals of Ward No. 5 of Sunkoshi Rural Municipality in Sindhuli district said that 25 houses were at grave risk until Sunday night as the fire from Parewadanda Community Forest was expanding for three days. 

“We had to set fire in some areas ourselves to tackle the wildfire expanding towards the settlement. It is a risky job because the flames, smoke and heat from wildfire make it more difficult,” said Binod Dahal, a local.

Sindhuli locals said that wildfire has been in progress in several community forests in Bhiman, Kamalakhunj, Gadhtir and Marin areas of the district for days. However, they are also taking measures to prevent excessive damage. 

“We are creating fire line to arrest the advance of fire and clearing bushes and fallen leaves to reduce fuel for forest fire,” said Sakuntala Rai, a member of the Dakshinkali Community Forest Consumers Committee of Ward No. 5 of Kamalamai Municipality of Sindhuli.

Experts and stakeholders suggest that activeness of community people can help prevent the damages of forest fire to a great extent. 

Only in Sindhuli, 89,940.42 hectares of land falls under community forest, which is 58 per cent of the total forest area of the district. A total of 54,363 families are benefitting from the forest. 

However, community forest consumers’ committee have been less active recently due to some reservations regarding the permission to utilise forest resources freely.

“Since there has been no sufficient rainfall, wildfire is occurring and expanding throughout the forests of Sindhuli. We have very few resources to tackle it because the wildfire is occurring in different places with difficult geography,” said Hem Bahadur Thapa, assistant forest officer at Division Forest Office, Sindhuli.

While natural conditions lead to forest fire in several incidents, some people also set fire knowingly expecting quality vegetation later. Thus, making locals aware of the importance of forest and the negative effects of wildfire is the best idea, authorities suggested.

According to the NDRRMA, they are preparing a training module and e-learning materials against forest fire to assist awareness campaigns on wildfire to reach and educate more people.