Forest Fires

A forest fire broke out today right behind the camp. We still don’t know who or what caused the fire, but atleast we managed to stop the fire before it did too much damage. We were lucky to get advance warning from the forest guard who was watching from top of a hill. Since there were no forest department folks at our camp, we (employees of the camp) rushed to the spot and started to fight the fire. Since this forest is very thick, it made our job very tough and all of us got burnt and bruised while we were trying to reach places where the fire was spreading. The hot sun and dry leaves were not helping. Eventually the forest department folks joined us and after some two hours, we managed to get the fire under control.

If you ever come across a forest fire, these are the things you can follow :

  • Never try to fight the fire when it’s raging high. Wait for the fire the calm down and attack it before it reaches the next tree.
  • Pick up branches from green trees and use them to hit the edges of the fire
  • Make a fire line (a line with less vegetation in between the forest) and guard the line and make sure the fire does not cross the lines
  • Always fight when the wind is not blowing. If the wind’s picking up, get away from the area as the fires spread very rapidly during that time.
  • Remember that it’s ok to lose part of the forest in a fire as long as you have it under control. Do not try to save each and every tree. You will fail.
    Here’s a video a friend of mine shot at bandipur couple of days ago. Even there the hill right opposite the resort caught fire and I happened to be there at that time. You can see how people hit the fire line with the branches.

  • 18 Comments

    1. shradha · March 21, 2005 Reply

      gosh!
      how bad are ur bruises and burns??
      and how bad was the damage to the forest?
      how often r forest fires in the area?

    2. shruthi_dipali · March 21, 2005 Reply

      hey the video doesn’t play on mplayer..

    3. admin · March 21, 2005 Reply

      Works for me. What error do you get ?

    4. Anonymous · March 21, 2005 Reply

      Hi

      Actually we saw the fire on the top of the hill on 18th evening while we were on safari , The jeep driver told us that it has been put by tribal people to ensure that next year the gross grows well . We also asked him that ” who is going to stop the fire?” , The answer was “Forest people” if they are there…

      Any how it was a great experience with you walking in the forest (3feet Road ) , experince few new things , and few surprising things also..

      Naveen

    5. Anonymous · March 21, 2005 Reply

      Fires and Ashes

      Hope you did not get badly bruised or brunt. Burn injuries are very painful as they sizzle out the nerve endings and cause intense pain.Make sure you hydrate yourself in plenty and keep the wound/bruise as clean as possible.
      I kept imagining how a forest fire looks like in real though, sounds pyromaniacal, but i have never seen fires of that magnitude… How come you did not put up any picture?
      Anonymously – Abhishek.

    6. bluesmoon · March 21, 2005 Reply

      Don’t forest fires help rejuvenate the forest?

    7. yathin · March 22, 2005 Reply

      It does, but the cost is probably a lot of endangered wildlife and a lot of old trees.

    8. admin · March 22, 2005 Reply

      Re: Fires and Ashes

      I didn’t want my camera to melt 😉

      But seriously, we were just busy putting it off and did not really think about the photos.

    9. admin · March 22, 2005 Reply

      Gald you liked the walk. Hope to see you again soon.

    10. Anonymous · March 22, 2005 Reply

      Re: Fires and Ashes

      Wow, i just saw the video….with the audio 🙂 very nice… of course it did not satiate my pyromanical lust to see a huge larger than life fire… but still decently impressive… but with summer looming large you guys will be flooded with oceans of fire? But i still envy your stay in the woods and experiencing nature so close.

      “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived” – Thoreau

    11. Anonymous · March 22, 2005 Reply

      Video

      The video is not opening on Linux machine , Could u please tell me how to open it? If i click on the link it just says ” Page Loaded” and stops.

      Naveen

    12. kalyancreddy · March 22, 2005 Reply

      By the way, you *avoided* or *forgot* answering this question that a lot of them put: HOW BADLY DID U BURN/BRUISE YOURSELF?, take care dude!

    13. drkishoremurthy · March 22, 2005 Reply

      phew! glad u are fine ..

      Years ago,I helped out forest guards put out a forest fire in Antarganga, Kolar .. it freakin travels so fast … there was so much damage .. and the pariah kites were the only benifitted for they scooped all the locusts and lizards that jumped onto rocks trying to avoid the fire …

      and so continues the adventure of Kallu…

    14. admin · March 22, 2005 Reply

      Am totally fine. Actually the ticks are irritating me then the bruises

    15. admin · March 22, 2005 Reply

      That’s interesting. Here it was all drango’s.

      Do drop in at BRT sometime. We could go on a long trek

      j

    16. shruthi_dipali · March 23, 2005 Reply

      kalyan uploaded the file again.. it works fine now on mplayer..

    Leave a Reply