By Binod Prasad Adhikari

Dakshinkali [Nepal], February 21 (ANI): Nepal is set to face a catastrophic forest fire incident in the coming days, but the local authorities have been less prepared and reliant only on the traditional method despite repeated stances over the years.

Raging for two days, the forest fire in the community forest Dakshinkali Municpality-04 is yet to be doused. Local security officials, including the Nepal Police and the Municipal Police, have been either using the branches of trees or a shovel to put off the blaze, which barely has been giving the result.

Drone shots revealed the extent of the damage caused by the fire, which has engulfed about 30 hectares of arid slopes and has been billowing smoke into the air around the clock. Flora and fauna, along with the Shorea robusta, commonly known as 'Sal,' have burned to the ground, damaging the habitat of animals and birds.

'We have the disaster management committee, the locals help of the Nepal Police, Metropolitan Police are mobilised, this kind of event takes place every year. We also have set up 'line of fire' to prevent blaze from reaching the residential areas but in winter it doesn't work, flammable objects cover that area which kills the essence of it. As it is the community forest, we also dug some ponds within the perimeter but it is only filled during monsoon but not in winter. That's why the locals and the police have been working to douse out the forest fire,' Pushkar Khadka, the ward chairperson of Dakshinkali Municipality, told ANI, highlighting the traditional approach of firefighting and control.

Nepal has reported 70 forest fires across the country within the past week, according to data from the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA). The absence of winter rain this year has raised concerns, which has created drought-like conditions.

Accumulation of fuel (dry leaf, dry grass, twigs, branches and trees) for years and dry conditions could ignite major fires in the forests, which will not only destroy forests but also risk lives and human settlements.

Wildfires are common in Nepal during the dry season. Last year, over 5,125 incidents of forest fires were recorded throughout the country between January 1 and June 24.

74 out of 77 districts reported forest fire incidents. 14 districts saw more than 102 forest fire incidents. According to the NDRRMA, Surkhet alone recorded 328 incidents of forest fire. In Nepal, the forest fire season starts in March and reaches its peak in May.

The years 2009, 2016, and 2021 were particularly catastrophic when thousands of forests burnt in what officials termed 'disastrous years'.

This year, Nepal has received only 5.7 mm of rainfall, just 9.5 per cent of the seasonal average of 60 mm, indicating severe drought conditions in the country. The number of fire incidents is expected to rise in the coming days throughout the country, as the mercury is rising with a little chance of precipitation in the next few days.

Forest fires might start naturally or through human activities and errors, but hotter and drier conditions make them fierce and uncontrollable.

Meteorologists have claimed that lack of winter rainfall is the result of change in sea surface temperature. Climate change causes the sea surface to fluctuate between hot and cold. The sea surface from Indonesia to the Indian Ocean is currently cold, which prevents evaporation.

The sea temperature is currently at an average level, meaning it is moving from the El Nino system to La Nina, but it hasn't reached the final stage yet. Since it remains in a stable state, it could either bring rain or not.

El Nino raises temperatures, while La Nina cools them. El Nino is the oceanic event responsible for changes in sea temperature and atmospheric conditions in the tropical Pacific equatorial region. This change can increase temperatures by 4 to 5 degrees Celsius above normal. (ANI)