Uttarakhand Sees Highest Number Of Forest Fires, Alarming Spike In Cases Since Last Season
The state also tragically lost six of its forest department personnel this year while trying to contain a massive fire that broke out in Binsar Wildlife Sanctuary, Almora, in June --- the warmest June on record since 1901
The Himalayan state of Uttarakhand has recorded an alarming increase in forest fire counts this season, jumping from its 13th place last season to becoming the top most-affected state this season. Satellites detected 21,033 fire counts this season compared to 5,351 last season, according to the latest India State of Forest Report 2023 released in Dehradun on Saturday.
The forest fires also caused extensive damage in the neighbouring Himachal Pradesh where over 10,136 fire counts were detected as compared to just 704 in the previous season. The detections using SNPP-VIIRS sensors cover the period from November 2023 to June 2024, which corresponds to the forest fire season in India, with a peak occurring from February 8, 2024, to June 30, 2024.
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Five districts of Uttarakhand — Nainital, Gharwal, Almora, Tehri Garhwal, Uttarkashi — and one in Himachal Pradesh (Shimla) were among the top 20 most-affected districts. As many as 2,800-3,300 cases were detected each in Nainital, Garhwal and Almora this season compared to just 500-900 cases in each district last season. The number of cases spiked from 199 to 1,823 in Shimla as well.
The destruction was so extensive that the state also tragically lost six of its forest department personnel, with two severely burnt trying to contain a massive fire in the Binsar Wildlife Sanctuary in Almora in June — the hottest June for India since 1901.
“Forest fires are one of the biggest challenges confronting us today. All the forest departments must worry over these incidents," said Union environment minister Bhupender Yadav at the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun.
WHAT POSSIBLY CAUSED THIS ALARMING INCREASE?
Nearly 11.34 per cent area of forest cover and scrub in India is categorised under extremely to very highly fire prone zone, which also includes Uttarakhand. But, unprecedented temperatures and dry weather due to climate change, along with large-scale land conversion for agriculture, have become major drivers behind the increase in forest fires. Delayed monsoons have further exacerbated the damage. This comes as 2024 remains on track to be the hottest year on record globally.
Globally, experts highlight that most forest fires — intentional or accidental — are caused by human activities. In India, while large forest areas are prone to forest fires, most incidents are surface fires, confined to the forest floor, but their intensity and frequency varies. This season too, nearly 93 per cent of the fires in India were observed as surface fires and classified as low-burnt areas.
At the same time, a closer analysis of the data showed that as many as 11,928 of the total detections were Large Forest Fire Events detected by FSI which caused widespread destruction. The forest departments were able to extinguish/contain at least 67 per cent of them within 24 hours, while 31.3 per cent of them remained active for one to five days. According to the report, 1.4 per cent such fires raged for six to ten days, and only 10 were so intense that they continued to burn for eleven to fifteen days.
EXTENSIVE DAMAGE ACROSS STATES
Overall, as many as 2.03 lakh forest fire counts were recorded this season from November 2023 to June 2024, compared to 2.12 lakh in the previous season from November 2022 to June 2023.
“The number of detections does not necessarily reflect the number of individual fires. Sometimes, a single fire incident may result in multiple detections as fire occurrences are reported on successive days for the same fire due to the satellite’s repeatability. Every time the satellite passes, it sends one detection. So, the total fires may be lesser in number," said Anoop Singh, Director General, FSI.
Odisha, the most-affected last season with 33,461 counts, saw a decline to 20,973 this time, ranking second. It is followed by Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh — both showing a marginal decline, but still remaining among the top five alongwith Maharashtra. Amongst districts, Gadchiroli in Maharashtra (7,042) recorded the highest fire counts, followed by Alluri Sitharama Raju in Andhra Pradesh (6,399), and Bijapur in Chhattisgarh (5,018).
In a first, the Forest Survey of India also analysed the data for 705 Protected Areas (Pas), and found 19,436 forest fire incidents in Sanctuaries, 6,046 in National Parks, 306 in Conservation Reserves and 5 in Community Reserves this season. Papikonda National Park in Andhra Pradesh (1,113) and Indravati National Park in Chhattisgarh (1,038) were the most-affected.
This is also for the first time that the burnt area assessment has been done at the national level. It showed that the maximum fire-affected area was recorded in Andhra Pradesh (5,286.76 km2) followed by Maharashtra (4,095.04 km2) and Telangana (3,983.28 km2).
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