Forest fire disaster events in Himalayan state Uttarakhand: An analytical study

Abstract

Disasters are unacceptable and casual occurring events that cause livelihood, environmental and economic losses. Forest Fire is one of the biggest anthropogenic disaster events in the study area viz., Uttarakhand which is a cause of loss of human beings, flora, and fauna. Personal, intentional and accidental anthropogenic causes triggered forest fire. The study area facing almost every year devastating forest fires in the open forest and near the settlements which are very harmful for livelihood and forest ecosystem. Forest provides shelter and food to human beings, wild animals, birds, reptiles etc. Forest is a home of fresh air, fresh water, medicinal herbs and plants etc. The people of Uttarakhand state are not well aware of the techniques of forest fire mitigation. Due to lack of forest fire mitigation awareness, every year several people lost their life in forest fire events. Present study reveals that the forest fire events are increasing in Uttarakhand state due to global warming and climate change. In 2011, there are total 72 forest fire events were recorded which has increased to 3738 in 2009. The present study shows the pattern and trend of forest fires events in the Uttarakhand and an attempt has been made to find out its consequences and causes. Based on this study a detailed mitigation strategy has been worked out which may be useful for the government for management of forest fire disaster events in future.