Forest fires are terrible things, whether they are caused by nature or man. Pakistan had a sampling of both this year. First there was a terrible fire in Balochistan, which wreaked destruction in the pinenut (chilgoza) orchards of the province. The pinenut tree takes a long time to grow, it being famously said that the grandson reaps the fruit of the tree the grandfather planted. The blaze is ascribed to a natural forest fire, which was probably the result of the recent heatwave, which made the blaze not only easier to set off, but harder to put out. Then in the KP forests, another blaze engulfed a large area, but this time it seems the result of human neglect. The pity of it is that it neglect, not arson. It is a carelessly thrown away cigarette butt, or an improperly put-out campfire that leads to a fire setting off, which then takes many days and specialised equipment to put out.
This is where the government comes in. These fires were only combatted because special firefighting helicopters were borrowed from Iran. The heat will come next year, and even though there may be awareness campaigns conducted, it just takes one fool to cause a huge blaze. It makes sense, therefore, to obtain the necessary firefighting equipment.
It should not be forgotten that the temperatures which cause such fires are the result of global warming, and it should not be ignored that forest fires make matters worse because they release vast amounts of greenhouse gases (mostly carbon dioxide) into the air. Air pollution is not just a First-World, industrial, problem. Third-world countries do not merely contribute by consuming petrol and diesel, but also through the fires in their wildernesses. Prevention must therefore be considered as a global duty, rather than merely a national one.
