Anayat Khan, 30, is worried that there will be more fires in the dense forests of Pakistan`s north-western Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, including around his hometown of Mansehra, which has the imposing Himalaya and Hindu Kush ranges as its backdrop.

`There has been less snowfall on the mountains, which would previously be ice-capped. So, the environment is warmer and drier, and more susceptible to forest fires, says Anayat.

A sub-divisional forest officer in KP, home to around one fifth of Pakistan`s 4.2 million hectares of forest and planted land, Anayat comes from a family of firefighters.

His great-grandfather was a forest guard in the 1870s, during British rule, while his grandfather and father also served in the forest department.

Much has changed in the intervening years in terms of equipment and technology, including artificial intelligence, says Anayat. But in most parts of KP, traditional and `primitive` methods continue to be practised to fight forest fires.

Forest guards along with local volunteers, including those whose villages are threatened by the fire, are the first responders, controlling the fire using traditional methods such clearing fire lines, digging trenches and using fire beaters, often made from tree branches.

From time to time, the fire department gets a supply of gear, including fire-resistant suits, helmets, fire-fighting tools such as rakes and beaters, and safety kits, but they depend on donor engagement and budgets.

LOCALLY DESIGNED SOLUTIONS Anayat previously worked at the World Wildlife Fund-Pakistan (WWF-Pak), where he was part of apilot project that designed and developed early warning systems (EWS) to detect fires and installed them at five selected areas of KP.

The solar-powered EWS, developed at the Lahore University of Management Sciences, includes air quality monitors, weather stations, and PTZ [pan-tilt-zoom] cameras, with a coverage of 15 nautical miles. The EWS relay the information back to the control room, monitored 24/7 manually, with its dashboard also available on a smartphone.

While detection has improved, mitigation and control remain a challenge, due to the steep and dense terrain, mostly accessible through hiking trails and pathways.

The forest department has no aerial capacity to fight fires or to rescue people caught in a blaze. It also hasn`t helped that governments at the provincial and federal level have failed to develop capacity to protect existing forests while focusing on increasing coverage area, such as under the Billion Tree Afforestation Programme.

UNDER-RESOURCED FIREFIGHTERS Anayat has worked with donors and experts to develop fire-fighting protocols, including the use of EWS in response. However, the firefighting department is woefully undermanned and underpaid, with roughly 100 guards per sub-division that `might have tens of thousands of acres of forests`, says Anayat. Forest guards are also paid close to minimum wage (approximately 140 US dollars) and no hazard allowance.

The situation is worse in the nearby valley of Swat, some 160 kms from Anayat`s hometown of Mansehra.

One of the most heavily forested areas in Pakistan, the Swat Valley particularly its forests with chir pine (pinus roxburghii) trees whose needle droppings and resin serve as a potent fuel sees regular fires.

In one three-week span in June 2022, the local forest department said 14,000 acres were lost in 210 fires over three districts, including Swat. In May this year, a couple lost their lives in another incident.

Around one third of these fires were said to be caused by humans, including shepherds who resort to the burning of pine needles covering the ground to clear the land for vegetation, to destroy pests and release nutrients back into the soil. They can also spread accidentally from fires set up for warmth or cooking.

Zahid Khan, 31, from the village of Barikot in Swat, says fires in his area can burn from several hours to several days sometimes even weeks depending upon how accessible the area is, as well as its proximity to human settlement.

Zahid adds that they are also poorly equipped, with fellow volunteers and firefighters often using their cell phones as torches to find their way at night in the forests to reach the fires, with only a handful having basic protective gear such as face masks and medical kits.

`I tied a handkerchief around my nose and used a wet towel for my eyes during the operation,` says Zahid of his volunteering during a fire last year.

The situation is worse in the neighbouring province of Balochistan, home to the Shirani Forest, which includes pine nut and olive trees and is spread over 26,000 hectares. A two-week long forest fire in 2022 saw 1,542 hectares of chilghoza (pine nut) forest burnt in the Sulaiman Mountains. An International Union of Conversation of Nature (IUCN) survey estimated that 900,000 trees were burnt, which will result in a loss of PKR 4 billion (USD 18.6 million) per year for many years to come. The IUCN report says the fire was probably started accidentally by nomads camping in the area.

That fire was only put out after Pakistan asked Iran for help and it sent a special firefighting aircraft.USING TECHNOLOGY IN PUNJAB Unlike their counterparts in KP and Balochistan, the fire departments of the capital Islamabad, which includes the Margalla Forests, and Punjab in Pakistan`s heartland, have access to greater resources. Punjab recently launched a pilot project for the regions of Murree and Kahuta Hills, with around 150,00 acres of forest area. It includes 600 locals hired as fire watchers during the fire season from April to June and December to February, as well as equipping vehicles with wireless communication and setting up hydrants near forest locations.

The two-year project, costing close to three million dollars (PKR 798 million) includes four thermal drones for surveillance.

According to Malik Saleem, a high-ranking official in Punjab`s forest department, it has brought detection time down to a matter of seconds, while response time has also gone down to five minutes from thirty minutes.

Like Anayat, Saleem is also concerned about the increase in the frequency of fires this year. `There has been minimal snowfall in Murree, which means the surface will be hotter,` he says. `But I am confident that, with the increase in capacity and use of technology, we will be able to respond to fires effectively and minimise damage.

At some point, this investment will eventually lead towards a greater reliance on technology and artificial intelligence to not only detect fires, but also to pre-empt and combat them.

Till then, though, for Anayat and for many others, the monsoon remains the most effective deterrent against raging fires.

A version of this article was published in German by Austria`s Südwind-Magazin The writer is a member of staff He can be contacted at hydada@gmail.com