Kalpetta: With man-made fire incidents on the rise, the Department of Forests and Wildlife is relying on modern gadgets as a preventive and regulatory measure in Wayanad. The department has installed more than 50 infrared cameras, drones with sensors and 100 live camera traps on trees in border zones in Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary (WWS).

More than ten fire outbreaks have been reported here over the last few weeks. The installation of sensors and cameras will enable the monitoring of the movement of animals and humans. On February 18, the forest department caught a person escaping from the jungle after setting it on fire at Kambamala near Mananthavadi.

The person was taken into custody and later, after interrogation, was handed over to the police. The incident strengthened the suspicion that there are people who set fire to the forests in a bid to reduce the threat from animals and also by miscreants who have vested interests. The series of forest fires had occurred in the zones from where a high number of man-animal conflicts took place, it was pointed out.

The grasslands of Chembra Peak, the undergrowth in the teak plantations in the forests in South Wayanad and North Wayanad and the border zones of WWS are prone to wildfires. The forest department has also banned the tourism activities of Eco Tourism Centres during the peak of summer to check the wild fires.  

WWS Wildlife Warden Varun Dalia told Onmanorama that all the forest fires in Wayanad are man-made. "There are no natural fires. We have fitted the gadgets across the fringes as most of the forest fires have their origin here. From there, the embers are caught in the wind, and fire gets spread to other distant zones," he said.

There are also miscreants who want to execute some crime, like hunting or cutting wood from the forest area, who would set fire to the forest at one place, and when the entire focus of the forest staff is diverted to the spot, they would try to execute their nefarious plan,

The WWS has two drones that continue to fly in the sky, watching for human movements and wildfires. If the fire watchers on the tree houses in interior forests alert the camp house to suspected human movement or smoke in a distant spot, the drones would be switched into action. They would scan the entire area from the top, giving images to the control station.