Bhubaneswar: With at least 10 personnel falling sick during forest fire dousing exercises, forest department on Monday decided to send a proposal to the government to procure motorcycle-mounted fire extinguishing blowers instead of body-mounted ones to check exposure to heat exhaustion and extreme fatigue.Head of forest force and PCCF K Murugesan said states like Maharashtra are using motorcycle-mounted blower machines that help reduce fatigue and exhaustion while dealing with fire. “As per the practice prevalent now in our state, huge blowers are carried by fire watchers on their back. As they ride pillion, they get down from motorcycle before operating the blower. They have to walk very close to the fire points and switch on the blowers, leading to exposure to fire as well as summer heat,” said the top forest officer.He added they will send a few forest officers and personnel to the other states using the vehicle-mounted blowers so that they learn how it functions. “Vehicle-mounted fire doesn’t require the personnel to go too close to the fire. Riding a motorcycle (which can access traveling through narrow road as well), they can switch on the blowers and douse the flames,” Murugesan said.Once the proposal is approved and funds allocated, the vehicle-mounted blowers will be procured for more effective and less exhaustive fire fight exercise, he added.This year, forest department said, towards end of April, the state reported 4,000 fewer fire points than 2025 in the corresponding period. “We have reported around 20,000 fire points so far. This was around 24,000 around the same time last year. Weather has helped to some extent to bring down the fire incidences,” the officer said.In another development, forest officials said they have instructed the field-level firefighters to keep watch along village roads as fire mostly starts from the edges of such roads. “We discovered that villagers set on fire dry leaves along village roads, knowing that it will spread anyway. So, we have asked the field personnel to keep tabs on village roads,” a forest officer said.
