Women shoulder the burden of expanding wildfires in rural India

In Uttarakhand, in India's Western Himalayas, rising heat and an extended fire season have made wildfires a near-constant threat to forests that supply drinking water, firewood, and fodder. With men migrating to cities for work, rural women have become the de facto first responders, fighting fires with household sickles and homemade brooms called jhapa while wearing flammable synthetic sarees.

The toll is burnt hands, singed eyebrows, smoke-choked lungs, and no pay. Men are sometimes hired as seasonal fire watchers with equipment; women, who often first spot fires while gathering firewood, are called on informally and rarely given gear or compensation.

Where women hold real organizing power, results follow: one village head, Kamla Devi, organized coordinated prevention and controlled burns, keeping her village free of major fires for three years. Since roughly 95% of India's forest fires are human-caused, that kind of planning works, it is just not the kind of work anyone is paying for.

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