BHUBANESWAR: As mercury has started soaring early this year, incidents of forest fires are also on the rise with 83 fire points detected in different divisions across the state in a single day, on Thursday.
Forest officials said two - one in Ghona beat of Raigarh range in Nabarangpur division and the other at Harachandi beat of Brahmagiri range in Puri wildlife division - were large fire points.
As per the statistics of the Forest Survey of India, a total 430 forest fire points have been detected in the state so far since the beginning of the wildfire season from January 21. Eleven of these are large fire points, located mostly in forest divisions of Koraput circle.
Officials said the forest divisions with support from the district administrations concerned have already readied the district fire prevention and management action plan 2024-25 to check incidents of forest fire in the current season. The divisional forest officers have been asked to ensure maintenance of adequate length of fire lines in vulnerable forests and also continue their awareness drives among community members to prevent fire mishaps.
Last year, Odisha had suffered damage in 9,711.69 hectare of land due to 36,713 forest fire incidents in the wildfire season that continues for six months till June. The state had received around `1.47 crore from the Centre towards management of forest fires.
Rain forecast for the next few days may bring down the number of forest fire points further, officials hoped.