Press Note issued by Forest and Environment Department, Government of Sikkim [ 20.03.2024]

In Sikkim, every year Due to dry spell, the forest areas in both forest land and revenue land encounter forest fire incidents. These dry spells during winters together with increasing mean minimum temperature leads to warmer climate predisposing the occurrence of forest fire. The dry season from October to May is particularly vulnerable from the point of view of Forest Fire with high prevalence in areas that experiences high velocity winds. The leaf litter in the forests especially Sal forests are prone to fires and the main reason why it becomes challenging to extinguish the fires. The Cryptomeria sp. areas are prone to crown fire due to its tapering trunks having resinous needles which are very susceptible to fires. These fires are the ones very difficult to counter and which ravage the entire areas that it lights up. The trees being in areas that are high up and exposed directly to strong winds the wildfire causes havoc. The current Forest Fire season has already seen multiple fires at various locations in the State. The Department of Forest and Environment is at the forefront of Forest Fire Mitigation and Response throughout the state through the concerned Territorial Divisions. There were about 90 fire incidences reported in this fire season in Sikkim and the highest numbers are reported from Gangtok District. All the fire incidences have be controlled and managed in the state and thus further spread has been avoided within the same day of the detection of the fire by the forest officials and staff with the help of people and community.

The forest Department adopt various Forest Fire response systems including Fire Alert systems, Deployment of Quick Response team under the leadership of concerned Range Officers, SOS alert sent to nearby agencies for immediate fire response, measures like counter fires and fire line clearance are executed to save habitations and minimise loss of forest cover, Fire Tenders deployed by Fire Department, NHPC etc in severe fire cases, predictive forest fire analysis is done where ever feasible., etc., Assistance sourced from community institutions including Joint forest Managmene committees, Eco Development committees to control and manage in their respective villages., etc., Senior Officials of the Department including Conservators, Chief Conservators of Forests are also in the field to support territorial divisions in control and management of forest fire in the state. There are incidences where the forest fires were detected in the night and the forest fire team fought the fire all through nights to save forest, crops of nearby villages in the harsh and challenging situations.

The forest department require cooperation and support from people, institutions, communities., etc., to face this challenging task of control and management of forest fire in the state. It is to inform that any act of kindling fire inside reserve forest is a severely punishable criminal offence under Sikkim Forest Act. The department is time and again making awareness among the stakeholders to prevent, control and manage forest fire in the state and inform people not to throw lighted cigarette buds in forest areas, not to dump garbage along the road and near forest areas, perform religious rituals responsibly, never leave unattended fire after firewood burning near forest areas and in picnic spots., etc., People are invited to inform forest fire incidences to concerned Range Officers or Divisional Forest Officers at the earliest opportunity and also to what ever possible measures possible by them to contain the spread of the forest fire incidence noticed by them.