Fires in Sikkim

Drywinter causes forest fires in Sikkim

30January 2005


A dry winter with little rainfall or snow has fuelled a series of wild fires in different parts of Sikkim since early thismonth. Since the beginning of January, incidents of several forest fires in the west, south and north districts of thestate, raging for several days. North Sikkim, the largest district in the state, has facedsevere fires during the prolonged dry winter spell which has rendered the forest groundhighly flammable. Human negligence has also added to it. The latest fire has been raging since lastSunday  at Lachung in the north. The fire at Lachung in Sikkim’s North District has been raging at an altitude of 8,000 feet since 22 January and had spread across an area of nearly 300 hectares ofsteep grassland. No incidence of major destructions have been reported. The fire has also been prevented from spilling over to the famous Rhododendron Sanctuary atYumthang, around 24 km from Lachung by using firelines. About 70 jawans of 12 grenadiers with fire brigade personnel from Sikkim police,the India Reserve Battalion and local residents are still busy trying to contain theblaze. The rough terrain coupled with falling rocks from the burnt side of the Phyanamtenmountain where the fire broke out has made the firefighters´ task difficult.
A massive forest blaze in the west district on 7 January had taken four days toextinguish.
On 22 January, a forest fire had hit Rajat Bhir near Chungthang guest house in north Sikkim and a day later another wild fire broke out at Noushou Bhir, about one km from Geyzing, the west districtheadquarters.

TERRA
28 January 2006
4:25 hrs UTC

click on image for a 250 m resolution

The fire at nearby Lachen area, which had erupted two days earlier, has also been brought undercontrol. Another forest fire at Chungthang, North Sikkim, at an altitude of 5,600 ft, which had started four days back, has also been brought under control.
Meanwhile, the forests at Hegyathang at Lower Dzongu, North Sikkim, had also been burning forat least one week. Due to the persistent efforts of the forest personnel, fire brigade and local people, the fire has also been controlled.However, another huge fire has erupted in  Lasuney, at the end of Lower Dzongu and adjacent to Dikchu sinceyesterday.

The total area under forest area in Sikkim is 80 per cent with less than 300 forest guards. It is a toughtask to monitor such huge expanse of forest area with such limited manpower.

See also other fire events in the Himalaya region:

Formore information on the use of fires and wildfires in the Himalayas see:

Schmidt-Vogt, D. 1990. Firein high altitude forests of the Nepal Himalaya. In: Fire in ecosystem dynamics.Mediterranean and northern perspectives (J.G. Goldammer and M.J. Jenkins, eds.),191-199. SPB Academic Publ., The Hague, 199 p.


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