Ashish Ranjan
Goa Wildfires: As forest fires continue to rage in Goa, the Union environment ministry has announced the establishment of a control room that is staffed 24 hours per day, seven days per week. In addition, the ministry stated that no significant damage to flora and fauna has yet been observed.
According to the ministry, it appears that most of the fires are human-caused, and an investigation has been launched to determine whether or not this was an accident. The spread has been further abetted by unprecedented high temperatures and strong winds, the ministry reported on Saturday.
“Long dry-spell (almost no precipitation since mid-October 2022) combined with unprecedented high summer temperatures and low humidity has created a conducive environment for fire, which has been exacerbated by high winds observed over the past few weeks, especially after sunset,” the ministry said.
The majority of the state’s reported fires are in deciduous regions. It is stated that the type of fire seen and observed is surface fire.”Surface fires primarily utilise flaming combustion to consume loose and dried leaf litter, desiccated herbaceous vegetation, shrubs, small trees, and saplings that are at or near the surface of the ground. The expansion and spread of the surface fire are determined by the amount of surface fuel a region possesses; dead trees and fallen timbers have contributed to the intensity of the fire in some areas.
Due to the burning debris, smoke and fumes have been observed continuously and have enveloped a vast area “stated the government.”Locals who rely on cattle husbandry are known to employ the slash-and-burn technique on grazing lands and grasslands that they utilise for their cattle herds. Large swaths of verdant plateaus have been burned, possibly to promote the growth of new grasses “stated the government.
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Similarly, as a cost-cutting measure in the cultural and tending activities of the cashew plantation, slash and burn is observed to be practised by cashew plantation owners and workers, primarily to reduce the detritus and suppress the growth beneath the cashew trees, according to the report.
