Vibi Yhokha
Kohima | December 13
It was a cold sunny morning at Dzükou valley on December 10, a Saturday. With the ongoing Hornbill Festival, and the picturesque valley being on the bucket list of most visitors to Nagaland, Dzükou valley saw visitors almost every day. 20-year-old Amhale Bei-o, (son of Khisaneto Bei-o) and 25-year-old Dieze-u Bei-o (son of Tesovi Bei-o) both from Kigwema village, volunteers of Nagaland Association of Adventure and Mountaineering Education (NAAME) and caretakers of the Dzükou valley guesthouse were busy working at the guesthouse when they saw smoke rising from one area of the picturesque valley.
“We came out of the house and saw smoke rising from the valley. It was around 9:30am,” said Amhale. When the two young caretakers reached the spot, almost a kilometer from the Guesthouse, the fire had already begun to spread. Towing buckets of water with them, the two soon realized that the water would not be sufficient.
“We had an emergency fire extinguisher but it was not working. By the time we started extinguishing the fire it was burning from two areas,” narrated Diezeu Bei-o. With no equipment available, the two started dousing the fire with their feet. This went on for almost five hours.
In the meantime authorities and friends were informed of the fire and two other volunteers, Ado and Medozieto from Kigwema village, arrived to help the duo. A tourist guide named Angule, who was also at Dzükou valley with tourists, joined the team. Ado and Medozieto reached the valley around 3:30pm.
“We carried water in buckets to try and stop the fire but it looked impossible so we started extinguishing it with our feet. Using our shoes, we tried to smother the fire. As we finished extinguishing it uphill, the fire was already burning from the lower end. The wind caused a major problem because it was blowing from the opposite direction and intensified the fire from the other end,” explained Diezeu.
“We tried our best so that the fire does not extend below the path ways. Some of the visitors helped but the fire had worsened so they were sent back. Our legs and thighs were already hurting. The valley and season is not completely dried up so the fire did not intensify, or it would have been worse,” noted Amhale.
By late evening the trees were still burning; together the five young men carried water from the guesthouse and doused the flames from the burning trees while continuing to smother sparks with their feet. The fire was finally brought under control at around 11 pm. By the time they returned to the guesthouse, the five men were caked in ash, feet bruised.
“At one point we had lost hope that the fire could be extinguished looking at how it was spreading. We were scared to allow visitors into the valley,” recalled Diezeu.
It may be mentioned that the Department of Forest, Ecology, Environment, and Wildlife were informed of the Dzükou fire but none of the officials paid a visit. Despite several incidents that occurred at Dzükou (such as the fire in early 2015 which burned down the entire valley) no Forest Guards have been deployed at the valley. Further there are no Check points where the inflow and outflow of visitors can be tracked and recorded.
“The Forest officials had already been informed, and they could have come by afternoon but they didn’t,” stated the two caretakers.
An investigation by the concerned authorities such as the Police or Department of Forest, Ecology, Environment, and Wildlife are a must in order to catch the culprits responsible for the fire, observed a concerned citizen adding that firebreaks, emergency fire extinguishers, protective gears are needed to prevent such outbreak, apart from signboards and necessary precautions which need to be given to each visitor in order to prevent any further disaster.
