Representative file image. , Photo Credit: Biswaranjan Raut
Odisha recorded 659 incidents of forest fires between February 1 and February 8 – the highest during the same period in the last four years.
The number of forest fires has set off alarm bells for officials of the state Forest and Environment Department as it has crossed the 656 incidents recorded in the same period in 2021 – considered one of the worst years on this account Is.
Since the state last received rains in the last week of October, the conditions became favorable for the forest fires.
According to the Forest Survey of India’s (FSI) fire alert system based on the Suomi National Polar-Orbiting Partnership (SNPP), the state recorded 659 fire incidents between February 1 and February 8, 2023 – the highest in the country. Odisha is followed by 621 fires in Madhya Pradesh and 503 in Karnataka.
The FSI data said that during the first week of February, 9 fire incidents were detected in the year 2020, 656 in 2021 and 121 in 2022.
Odisha’s Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) Debidutt Biswal said that if the dry spell continues in March and April, there is a possibility of record fires in forests across the state.
“It will be a challenge for the forest department to control the forest fires, which will increase to a great extent in March and April,” said Mr. Biswal. So far, the forest fire has been detected in Keonjhar, Balasore, Ganjam and Mayurbhanj districts.
fire prone area
The Forest Survey of India had conducted a study based on spatial analysis of forest fire points detected over 17 years between 2004 and 2021 to identify forest areas prone to fire in the country. The analysis says that 10.66% of the forest cover in India was under extremely to extremely fire-prone areas. The central part of Odisha falls in the category of extremely and highly fire-prone areas.
According to the fire alert system based on SNPP, India had recorded 695,134 forest fire incidents since January 1, 2020. During the same period, 84,840 fire incidents were detected in Odisha, which accounted for 12.20% of the total forest fires in the country.