Raging fire threatens Kinnaur village

Kuldeep Chauhan

Tribune News Service

Shimla, December 9

Tribal people of Ribba village in the fire-ravaged Kinnaur are spending sleepless nights as a forest fire in the nearby Purbani blue pine forest has been advancing dangerously for the past 21 days.

Preempting damage from fire, two teams of villagers comprising 150 persons each have been fighting flames alternatively for the past five days to stop it from spreading to the village and apple orchards in the area.

“The fire is advancing dangerously towards the village, which is just 2 km from the fire spot. The flames are leaping and we have no equipment and water to fight it. We have been fighting the flames for the past five days as no firefighters’ team has reached here yet,” rued Chandergopal Negi, a senior resident of Ribba village.

Villagers have laid a 1,300-m pipeline on their own to carry water to the fire spot. “Even the village women have joined the anti-fire operation. We are pouring earth on fire, digging fire line wherever it is possible and by tomorrow we will be able to use water to douse the fire,” Negi said.

The fire broke out about 21 days ago on the mountain top of Kibbar and Purbani blue pine forest. Resin of pine and chilgoza needles and dry and dead trees and branches in the forest have worked as a fuel to the fire. Tribal people have demanded that the forest department should probe and book culprits responsible for lighting fire in the jungle. The damage to the chilgoza forest, which yields edible nuts and are a source of livelihood for locals, has run into over a crore of rupees. The forest team was yet to assess the exact loss, Ribba villagers said. They complained while a range officer visited the village and a fire watcher and a forest guard had been deputed, no district level officer had bothered to take the stock of the situation.

DFO Kinnaur Angel Chauhan, however, claimed they had deputed 20 men towards Ribba side and 80 men in the Purbani side to control the fire. “We walked on foot to the fire spot today and assessed the situation. We are getting assistance from villagers, who are coming out to douse the fire”, he said. Chauhan said they were facing difficulty in transporting water on the higher mountain, but they had piped the water on the road side in Purbani and Ribba, where the fire tenders were working. “We are trying hard to douse the fire”, he said.