Fighting forest fires: Bandipur takes a cue from Kerala
Forest officials study new methods of battling the blaze.
Chamarajanagar: Summer may still be a long way away but forest officials of the Bandipur National Park are preparing for the forest fires that accompany it by taking a few cues from Kerala to modernise its fire fighting equipment and avoid a tragedy like the one in Feburary this year when a forest officer died of burns.
The forest staffer, Murgappa was badly injured while dousing a fire in the Kalkere range of the park and did not recover.
The forest fire also left a couple of other staff injured. Assistant Conservator of Forests, Bandipur range, Anthony Mariyappa, who has studied the fire fighting methods of Kerala , believes they can work well in Bandipur’s field conditions.
He has now bought equipment like fire blowers to collect dried leaves littering the forests, which often set off fires and rubber pads supported by a rod that forest officers can use to douse them on the ground without being injured like they do presently while using green leaves to put them out.
“These rubber pads are light and portable, and are easy to use in fighting fire,” he explains.
The park has also gone in for a diesel motor to pump water to a height of 20 meters to douse crown fires and ACF Paramesh of the Hediyala sub-division of Bandipur, says he is working on modification of vehicles to fit them with water tanks to put out forest fires in quick time.