6.3.2 Fire Situation in Trinidad and Tobago

By
Kenny Singh
Forestry Division
Fire environment, fire regimes and the ecological role of fire

Each dry season, roughly January to May, open areas, roadsides, agricultural lands and forests are ravaged by bush and forest fires. The nature and extent of damage and losses resulting from these fires varies from year to year depending mainly on the severity of the dry season, which in turn is a function of the amount and frequency of rainfall. Relative humidity plays a lesser role in contributing to prevailing levels of fire danger. Trinidad and Tobago consists of two relatively small islands and relative humidities seldom drop below 50 percent, even in the dry season.

The term “bush fire” refers to fires burning in open, non-forested areas such as vacant lots in urban and semi-urban settings, roadsides and agricultural lands.

A forest fire is defined as an unplanned fire, which burns vegetation on lands under forest cover, including grasslands, which were once under forests, or found within Forest Reserves.

Our forested lands consist of natural forests, commercial plantations of teak and Caribbean Pine and savannahs, or grasslands, classified as forests lands. This includes fragile wetlands which may dry out during the dry season. Teak plantations are particularly susceptible to annual fires, as leaf-fall during the early dry season results in a substantial accumulation of fuel on the ground that vandals routinely ignite. While teak is often described as fire resistant because trees are seldom killed by fires, annual burning does result in significant damage to the lower bole and site degradation. The eventual result is a decline in timber quality and quantity due to reductions in growth rates and the onset of disease problems, particularly heart rot.

The critical watersheds of the Northern Range of Trinidad are also quite vulnerable to fires. These exposed slopes rapidly dry out during the early dry season and fires started in these areas easily burn out of control. Over the years, repeated fires have resulted in the maintenance of fire-climax grasslands on several ridges of the Northern Range. These grasslands also serve as corridors for the spread of fires onto adjoining forests. These fire prone grasses are therefore replacing more and more forests. The end result is a series of environmental disasters including siltation and flooding of low-lying areas.

During harsh dry seasons, drought-like conditions render the natural forests more susceptible to fires. For example, during the drought of 1987, it is estimated that over 10,000 acres of natural forests were burned. Evidence of this damage is still observed as most of the trees were killed and toppled by fire; and natural regeneration has been quite variable. Recovery also has been set back by subsequent fires. During average dry seasons, the ability of natural forests to recover from surface fire is much more evident.

Narrative summary of major wildfire impacts on people, property and natural resources that occurred historically

People. Historically, fires have been successfully incorporated as a tool in land clearing for slash-and-burn cultivation. Traditionally, such farmers were careful to border their plots with fire-traces and to burn in small heaps (or “boucans”). Thus, fires were generally restricted to the plots being worked.

On those somewhat rare occasions when a combination of harsh (dry) conditions and negligence, or vandalism, resulted in major forest fires, “squatters” seized the opportunity to occupy and cultivate these lands that were previously under forests.

Property. Damage to property due to fires up to the mid-eighties was relatively small and generally restricted to damage to fences and low-cost structures on agricultural lands.

Natural Resources. Historically the impact of fires on natural resources have reflected the land settlement patterns over the years. The northwestern part of Trinidad, including the western Northern Range, with the highest population density, has been most affected by fires. Here, the forest cover and cocoa and coffee plantations, which once occupied these hillsides, have been replaced by primarily housing and to a lesser extent short-term cultivation. It is not surprising that this region, including the capital city, is quite prone to siltation of watercourses and flooding.

Fires also have been used as a precursor to land settlement in other regions of the country. However, these settlements were less intensive and therefore the impacts were generally localized. Such impacts include loss of productive forests, disruption of wildlife habitat and site degradation.

Narrative summary of major wildfire impacts on people, property and natural resources during the 1990s

People. By the 1990s the increased incidence of forest and bush fires began to have serious impacts on a wide cross-section of the community. Housing shortages and a lack of employment opportunities in the urban centers led to massive influxes of people seeking to settle on forested lands. This ad-hoc, unplanned and chaotic establishment of squatter communities has resulted in a series of environmental problems associated with the removal of trees, the use of fires and other undesirable land-use practices. These practices have further resulted in degradation of the same resources (land, watercourses, access) that initially attracted settlers into the area. It should be noted that an estimated fifty percent of these squatting communities are on State forest reserves.

Disadvantaged groups have not been the only ones settling into rural areas. The upper class has been escaping urban congestion by establishing high cost housing in rural areas adjacent to forested lands. These communities are sometimes threatened by forests and bush fires.

Generally, all sectors of the national community are affected directly or indirectly by fires. The nature of these impacts include disruptions in water supply, damage to infrastructure, the effects of higher levels of dust and smoke in the air and higher prices of local agricultural produce made scarce by direct damages to crops due to fires in the dry season and floods in the rainy season. There has been no direct loss of life due to fires.

Property. Property damage due to forest and bush fires ranges from damage to infrastructure (roads, bridges affected by landslides and flooding), direct destruction of houses (mainly low-income dwellings, average of four per year with a total estimated value of US $50,000) and loss of agricultural crops and property (estimated at an average of US $500,000 per annum).

Natural Resources. The impacts of forest fires on natural resources include:

permanent loss of forest cover – estimated at 100 acres per annum.

• Loss of biodiversity. Fires have simplified many ecosystems and have even resulted in major expanses of fire-climax grasslands.

• Loss of forest cover and changes in species composition and structure have adversely affected wildlife. In the late 1980s there was a two-year moratorium on hunting after the devastation caused by fires in 1987. No studies have been conducted to determine the specific impacts of fires on wildlife.

• Loss of fish habitat. Fresh water fish also have been negatively impacted as a result of higher siltation levels and the drying out of streams.

Fire Management Organization

No separate structure exists for forest fire management. Fire prevention and control are carried out by six Conservancies which are responsible for overall forest management and protection. A small Fire Protection Unit collates plans and reports for all regions. This unit is headed by a Professional Officer who shares this responsibility with other substantive functions. This officer is supported by one clerical worker.

Wildfire database

Table 6-7 Number of fires and area burned between 1990-1999.

Year	Total No. of Fires on Forest, Other Wooded Land & Other Land No.	Total Area Burned on Forest, Other Wooded Land & Other Land ha	Area of Forest Burned ha	Area of Other Wooded Land & Other Land Burned ha	Human Causes No.	Natural Causes No.	Unknown Causes No.
1990	234	1,100	251	849	135	NIL	99
1991	239	680	297	383	150	NIL	79
1992	431	2,710	2,145	565	313	NIL	118
1993	228	1,570	1,000	570	146	NIL	82
1994	256	2,597	2,097	500	203	NIL	53
1995	198	2,664	2,096	568	121	NIL	57
1996	516	7,245	5,268	1,977	376	NIL	140
1997	156	443	272	171	120	NIL	36
1998	764	10,288	7,201	3,087	665	NIL	99
1999	167	988	678	310	130	NIL	37

Evidence indicates that all fires in Trinidad and Tobago are caused by human activity. Recurring fires on grasslands, especially on the slopes of the Northern Range, prevent succession to forests.

Use of prescribed fire to achieve resource management objectives

This is limited to some very small-scale trials in teak plantations. Trials will continue to be undertaken. Even so, these trials have yielded only moderate success, as prescribed burning must be done in early dry season. Continued leaf-fall after prescribed fire still represents a significant build-up of fuel, which invariably burns due to unplanned fires.

Extreme caution is necessary as once the public is under the impression that the Forestry Division has a programmeme to burn teak fields, individuals interpret this as encouragement to start fires on their own.

Public policies affecting wildfires and fire management

• Regularization of Squatters. Legal arrangements are in place to regularize, i.e. provide some security of tenure squatters who were on State lands as of December 1998. Fires have been used in the past to stake claims to parcels, many of them on fragile sites.

• Access to Markets. No farmer is denied the opportunity to use State facilities to market his produce, based on land-use criteria, including use of fires.

• Incentives. These were introduced in 1999 for fire-tracing and watershed rehabilitation. This has had a positive impact on fires on private holdings.

Sustainable land use practices used to reduce wildfire hazards and wildfire risks

• Reforestation projects emphasize use of mixed species.

• More intensive management of natural forests for variety of goods and services.

• Encouragement of agro-forestry on private lands.

Community involvement in fire management activities

• Two volunteer groups (Community-based) have been assisting the Forestry Division with fires on the Northern Range.

• One community-based fire project was launched at Nariva (Ramsar wetland site) in 1998. This effort has been quite successful, but needs to be sustained if objectives are to be realized. Inadequate resources are available for this effort.