Forest fire

The unfortunate fire reduced millions of trees to ashes, inflicting losses amounting to billions on local communities

The world’s largest pine nut forest located in Balochistan’s Sherani district burnt relentlessly for nearly two weeks only to cool off last Tuesday. Flames grew to engulf a vast area of 40 square kilometers and resulted in the death of 3 people and injuries to several others. We have yet to determine how much wildlife, environmental and agricultural damage the forest fire has caused.

The forest range is home to pine trees dating back to 1,500 years. Generations of farmers and cattle herders have relied on the forest for their livelihoods for decades. This unfortunate fire incident reduced millions of trees to ashes, inflicting losses amounting to billions of rupees on local communities. Had the authorities taken timely action, the fire could have been controlled and the damage would have been far lesser. But even after the provincial government arose from their deep slumber, firefighters and paramilitary personnel tried their best to extinguish the fire but failed. The Deputy Speaker of the Balochistan Assembly admitted that the under-resourced government did not have adequate facilities to deal with such a massive fire and called upon the NDMA for technical support. A subsequent joint operation carried out by Pakistan Army, Frontier Corps, PDMA and district administration too could not yield the desired results. Iran’s ‘biggest firefighter aircraft’ finally came to the rescue and the forest fire was successfully extinguished.

This does not take away from the sheer incompetence and negligence that was at play. While facing an unprecedented ecological crisis, in which Pakistan is one of the countries most affected, are the concerned officials unaware of what happens when a forest fire is left untreated? Unfortunately, this is just the start as the country will witness very many forest fires in the coming years. The government must be prepared to react to such emergencies and protect the livelihood of those affected. We can no longer afford delayed action.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 27^th, 2022.

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