​Embers in the air: On wildfires in the Nilgiris, Tamil Nadu

The Nilgiris district in Tamil Nadu and the adjoining forest divisions of Mudumalai, Coimbatore and Erode have been dealing with wildfires that escalated to being a crisis requiring the assistance of the Indian Air Force. Even so, the intense fires are not anomalous, but an acute manifestation of a seasonal event. Parsons Valley and Pykara in the Nilgiris have been worst-hit while significant blazes were also reported from the Singara and Masinagudi ranges. One major blaze broke out in Wenlock Downs and spread rapidly. February to May is fire season in this region, and in April, officials said that high heat and strong winds created a “conducive environment”; the wind, in particular, carried embers over pre-existing firelines and partly explains why this season has been a breakout. Some fires also burnt hotter and for longer in Pykara because of the accumulated biomass and invasive undergrowth, and took longer to be doused. The Nilgiris feature steep terrains and limited road access, slowing the movement of crew and equipment to particular spots. This said, most fires also have a human hand. Tribespeople gather wood in the area to make brooms — an activity closely monitored by officials — and herders have also been known to burn dry grassland, forcing grasses to regrow and become fodder. The latter together with discarded smoking paraphernalia are known accidental causes. This year, one blaze entered the Coimbatore division after Kerala forest staff began a controlled burn allegedly without coordinating this with Tamil Nadu. Some officials also expressed suspicion that miscreants deliberately set fires in the Reserve, allegedly over the Forest Department’s failure to address tiger-related deaths meaningfully, but local communities are usually the first-responders to these fires.

While none of these causes is new, their confluence this year with the hot summer is likely to have stoked the intense fires. Indeed, climate variability — rather than climate change alone — is also raising the baseline risk. Keeping other causes fixed, a hotter, drier summer automatically leads to fires that threaten the best-laid plans more. Even this year, authorities had begun planning in March, setting up control rooms and firelines, ensuring animals’ access to water outside human-settled areas, clearing weeds, and mounting awareness campaigns. However, many activities that add to the fire risk remain tied to peoples’ livelihoods and traditional practices, so they cannot be eliminated without suitable alternatives. Taken together, managing the region’s seasonal fires is becoming less about what can be planned for in the short term and more about what can be factored in over the long term.