MURREE: Thousands of trees such as pine, kail and other plants and herbs were damaged in a fire in the wooded area of Namble along Murree Expressway.

Rescue 1122 teams reached the spot and controlled the fire after many hours but by then the plants had been damaged. Every year thousands of trees get damaged due to fires in the hilly resort area.

The forest department failed to devise a strategy to overcome the issue of forest fires which causes loss to thousands of trees every year.

Hafiz Saeed Ahmad, president RADO, a local NGO working for environment and forest protection, said on the one hand the government was claiming to plant billion of trees but on the other it was making no plan to protect forests from fires and the timber mafia.

He said the government should deploy trained staff and vehicles to save the forests from fires and chopping down by the mafia.

Asad Abbasi Advocate, president Murree Green Association, working for awareness about protection of forests, said the fire incidents needed urgent attention of the government otherwise the remaining forests in Murree and adjoining areas would also be damaged by fires.

He suggested that fire protection committees, comprising local residents, should be formed to create awareness about protection of forests.

When contacted, Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Amir Malik said forest fires were a natural phenomenon as leaves of pine trees were highly inflammable to catch fire. Fire incidents can be minimised but cannot be eradicated, he added.

The DFO said only 140 employees were available with the department to protect the forests spreading over 47,000 acres. About 36 daily wage workers are inducted during the summer every year to check fire incidents, he added.The department has only three vehicles which are not sufficient to manage the forests.

The DFO said a meeting was recently held with the chairman of the disaster management authority to chalk out an effective strategy to overcome the fire incidents. The strategy would be implemented first by the CDA after which it would be extended to forests of other areas, he added.

Published in Dawn, May 7th, 2019