Punjab faces spike in forest fires

Number of incidents rise by 89% in a year

LAHORE:

An unprecedented increase of 89 per cent in forest fires as compared to last year has been recorded in Punjab.

At least 377 incidents of forest fire have been reported so far in 2024, while 199 cases had been recorded last year.

Of the incidents, as many as 152 were reported during the past month, according to Punjab Emergency Services Secretary Dr Rizwan Nseer who shared the statistics while reviewing the monthly emergencies data and performance of all district teams in Punjab.

The highest number of forest fire incidents during the month took place in Murree, where 26 cases were reported, followed by 24 in Chakwal, 18 in Narowal, 17 in Rawalpindi and 16 in Gujrat.

The provincial secretary expressed serious concern over the unprecedented 152 forest fires in the previous month in Punjab.

He stated that the rescuers had conducted day and night fire and rescue operations in challenging and difficult forest fire situations.

He saluted the firefighters for managing forest fire incidents in mountains and difficult terrains.

Dr Naseer explained that the timely detection of forest fires and prompt calls to the authorities can help reduce the spread and damage caused by the fires.

The Punjab Forest Department has established control rooms at the district level in collaboration with the local administrations, Rescue 1122, Provincial Disaster Management Authority and local people throughout the province.

According to a spokesperson, the department is striving continuously to combat fires braking out in and around the forest areas.

The spokesperson termed timely identification and information about the fires and rapid action with minimum response time key to coping with such incidents. The teams had succeeded in dousing the fires in time by using their professional skills to ensure less damage.

According to the spokesperson, a recent example was prompt action after a fire broke out in a privately owned area adjacent to the hill forests of Jhelum district in Pind Dadan Khan.

Access to the fire upstream from the Khewra salt mine was extremely difficult, as the upper level of the mountains was very difficult to reach. It was impossible for a vehicle to reach there.

Despite the intense heat, strong winds and difficult mountainous terrain, the forest department officials, Rescue 1122, PDMA and district administration, with the help of local people, managed to extinguish the fire before it could spread to the adjoining forest.

In the meeting presided over by the emergency services secretary, all the district emergency officers, shared the operational performance of their teams while discussing major emergencies, challenges, case studies, lessons learned and initiatives from their respective districts.

The provincial monitoring officer informed the participants that the Rescue 1122 service had rescued 195,696 victims while responding to 204,930 emergencies across Punjab during May. He said that out of the 204,930 emergencies, 137,584 were medical emergencies, 40,265 were road traffic accidents, 5,017 crime incidents, 4,814 fire incidents, including 152 forest fires, 3,842 delivery cases, 2,191 occupational injuries, 1,305 of animal rescue, 156 drowning cases, 52 structural collapses and 9,704 miscellaneous operations.

The official said 363 people had died in 40,265 road traffic crashes in Punjab during the last month. Of the traffic accidents, the highest number was reported in Lahore at 8,653, in which 36 people died. Another 2,828 RTCs took place in Faisalabad, 2,475 in Multan, 2,262 in Gujranwala, 1,650 in Rawalpindi and 1,477 in Sheikhupura, while the remaining 20,920 road accidents took place in 30 districts of Punjab.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 2^nd, 2024.