NEW DELHI: Forest fires in Western Himalaya region increased manifold during the wildfire season (November to June) this year, compared to a year ago. Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir registered a sharp rise in forest fire incidents, causing extensive damage to forest coverage.
According to the 18th biennial assessment of India’s forests — India State of Forest Report 2023 (ISFR 2023) — released recently by the Forest Survey of India (FSI), there is a phenomenal rise in forest fire incidents in the western Himalayan states during the forest fire season between November 2023 and June 2024.
For instance, in Jammu and Kashmir, there has been 18 times increase in forest fire incidents compared to the previous year. As per ISFR data, there were 327 fire incidents recorded in the state this season, while only 19 incidents were reported in last year.
Similarly, in Himachal Pradesh, there has been 10 times rise in forest fire incidents. The FSI recorded 985 forest fires this year, against 97 incidents last year. Likewise in Uttarakhand, 2,442 forest fires were reported this year, against 576 last year.
Experts cite the emergence of the El Nino phenomenon this year, which caused a record rise in temperature during the deficit summer monsoon, as one of the reasons behind the rise in fires. Also, the winter in 2023-24 was dry, which increased forest fuel loads and created a conducive condition for forest fires.
“Last year, lesser forest fires had increased fuel loads in the forest. This contributed to a large number of forest fires in western Himalayas this year,” said Nishant Mandhotra, Himachal Pradesh nodal officer for controlling forest fires.
According to the ISFR, fires are causing problems in the western Himalayan region due to fires in pine forests and transhumance pastoralists, who move livestock from one grazing ground to another in a seasonal cycle. “Chir pine trees do not allow the grass to grow, which is important for pastoralists. So they cause a fire, to increase grasslands for their sheep and goats,” said Mandhotra.
This year, a total of 34,562 sq km of forest area was burnt across the country. The maximum fire-affected forest areas have been observed in Andhra Pradesh (5,286.76 km2), followed by Maharashtra (4,095.04 km2) and Telangana (3,983.28 km2).
The highest percentage of recorded forest areas affected by forest fire has been observed in Telangana (14.82%), followed by Andhra Pradesh (13.94%) and Bihar (10.71%).
However, this year’s overall forest fire incidents were comparatively lower than in the last two years, except in the western Himalayan regions.
The FSI also detected large forest fire incidents that lasted from at least 24 hours to more than 15 days. In 2023-24, the majority of large forest fire events were detected in Uttarakhand (1,313), followed by Odisha (1,131), Andhra Pradesh (1,073), Madhya Pradesh (962), Chhattisgarh (928) and Telangana (833). The majority of them lasted up to a week.