FOREST FIRE REPORTING in Uttarakhand - Use of RS & GIS

FOREST FIRE REPORTING in Uttarakhand- Use of RS &

GIS

Forest Fire in Chir pine Forests

Comparison of Forest Cover Map , Forest Type Map and Forest Fire MapsThere is a strong occurrence of forest fires in the moderately dense forests and open forests as compared to very dense forest.The occurrence in sub-tropical pine forests and tropical dry deciduous forests is high.The difference in the number of fires reported in the years 2008 to 2012 exists. The trend being

2008-moderate occurrence of fires overall and majority in the Terai belt2009-high occurrence of fires with distribution through terai as well as pine belt2010- moderate occurrence of fires overall and majority in the Terai belt2011-extremely low occurrence reported and well distributed2012- high occurrence of fires with distribution through terai as well as pine belt

These results are based on the reporting done from the bottoms up driven wireless communication  

Reporting through wireless Reporting through wireless setssetsReporting of forest fires by the field

level staff (forest guard / plot watcher / daily wager) through wireless sets to the division Headquarters

Stop the fire from spreading through manual intervention by the field staff and the local villagers

Reporting of forest fires has so far been a bottoms up driven process in which the data from field is conveyed to the division and later at the top level.

IT Cell : UK forestIT Cell : UK forestWith careful picking of able field

staff suitable to the requirements of IT Cell a small core group created

The guidance was ably given by SCIENCE

With time we have evolved a new fire reporting system

to utilize the advancements in RS/GIS in our operations

Created layers for UK Created layers for UK forestforestforest boundary (up to the beat

and compartment level); administrative boundaries (of

districts); railways, roads, fire lines, forest chowkies , villages ,

settlements and streams (major and minor)

Modus Operandi: Modus Operandi: Step 1. Getting Near Real Time Forest Fire Data (3 hrs.) from EOSDIS NASA site for South Asia

Modus OperandiModus Operandi

Step 2: convert the .kml file from the site to .shp file using Arc Info

Modus operandi : Step 3. Overlay the shp file having Fire Incidence Points over the layers of Uttarakhand Forest Boundary

Modus operandi : Modus operandi : Step 4 Run the Identify Tool for the points within Uttarakhand state

Results of Identify Tool operation:Results of Identify Tool operation:Step 5 : Step 5 : Fire Reporting done at Compartment Level Fire Reporting done at Compartment Level

Step 6 : Intimate The Beat /Range /Division Incharge About The Fire

Modus Operandi

Modus operandi : Modus operandi : Step 7 Prepare A Map ( Different For Evening And Morning And Display It On Site)

Different from previous Different from previous methodsmethodsFSI Fire reporting gives Lat/Long

data; we gave our field staff the name of the Compartment as well

The field staff could overlay the layers of his beat on Google Earth as well to know the area

Wireless reporting is not exhaustive and manual errors are also avoided

Future Future SMS Server linked to the

Geospatial Lab could send SMS to the Official Phone number ( CUG ) of the Beat Incharge

Centralized data of the fires reported and acted upon by the field staff

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