Forest fire kills 10 people in 14 days

Fires and wildfires have become terrible across the country since the beginning of Baisakh. The damage this time has also doubled compared to last year. According to the data of the National Emergency Operation Center under the Ministry of Home Affairs there have been fires in 426 places in the country as of 14 Baisakh, while 243 places have been burnt down. In 14 days, 10 people lost their lives in the fire. 43 were injured. . 944 families have been affected due to fire in 665 houses.

Mahottari Matihani Municipality- 6 Jaralhawa Toll, a severe fire that broke out on Wednesday engulfed 113 houses. One hundred houses were completely burnt. About 500 locals have been displaced. 26 houses and 49 sheds of Isma Rural Municipality-2 Hastichour and Ward No. 4 Sidunkha were burnt after the forest fire engulfed the settlement on 8 Baisakh. On 9 Baisakh, 24 houses of 12 families were burnt down in Saptari Kanchanrup Municipality-5 Pademara.

There are fires in forests all over the country. There are many wildfires in the western Terai and hills and in the hilly areas of central Nepal. Not only the community and national forests, but also protected forests (parks, reserves) are covered in fire. Most of all, fires have broken out in 30 places in Kailali. Similarly, there are 28-28 fires in Salyan and Surkhet districts, 25 in Bardia, 24 in Dadeldhura, 23 in Dang, 17 in Pyuthan, 15 in Doti and 13 in Udaipur. According to the Department of Forestry and Land Conservation, fires occur in two lakh hectares of forest area in Nepal every year.

Fires set to burn wheat husks and garbage are burning in settlements and forests. Due to this kind of carelessness at the public level, not only houses are burnt, people are also losing their lives. There are 22,700 community forests across the country. However, the role of community forest was not seen to prevent fires. After the fire is extinguished, the local level is at the forefront. However, it was not seen that miking and spreading awareness should be done to prevent fire. After the fire started to break out across the country, the home administration and the district administration had to mobilize security personnel. If a campaign had been started to arrest and punish those who set arson, the negligence of the people would have been reduced. . Even with the use of fire engines, it is taking all day to extinguish. In such large fire areas, the government should also use helicopter buckets to extinguish the fire. After the fire is extinguished, security personnel go to extinguish it, due to lack of proper equipment, lives have been lost.