The area damaged in forest fire in the 2024 forest fire season was 4,067.05 hectare compared to 8,414.55 hectare in 2022 and 9,550.86 hectare in 2023.
The area damaged in forest fire in the 2024 forest fire season was 4,067.05 hectare compared to 8,414.55 hectare in 2022 and 9,550.86 hectare in 2023.

Forest Department targets 100 per cent response rate to wildfires in Odisha

Odisha recorded 22,868 forest fire points last year, the lowest in last three years, and had responded to 99.86 per cent of them.
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BHUBANESWAR: The Forest department will strive to achieve 100 per cent response rate to wildfire incidents in the current forest fire season which began from January 1 and will continue till June-end, officials said.

As per the Forest department statistics, Odisha recorded 22,868 forest fire points last year, the lowest in last three years, and had responded to 99.86 per cent of them. The state had recorded 28,755 fire points in 2022 and 36,713 in 2023. The response rate was 91.62 per cent and 98.93 per cent respectively.

The area damaged in forest fire in the 2024 forest fire season was 4,067.05 hectare compared to 8,414.55 hectare in 2022 and 9,550.86 hectare in 2023.

PCCF and HoFF Debidatta Biswal said district-level action plans have been readied and awareness camps have been organised in forest fringe villages seeking local support in curbing fire incidents.

Sporadic incidents of forest fire have already started surfacing in some parts. Keeping this in view, the process to create fire lines has also been taken up this month. Around 12,000 km fire line is created every year, officials said.

“As the shedding starts late in January and goes on till early April, fire lines will be created by the field staff during this period and foot patrolling enhanced for the purpose,” Biswal said adding, GIS and Avenza app will be used to lay fire lines judiciously.

He further informed that around 230 squads, each comprising 10 members, will be hired for this year’s forest fire season. The government will also equip them with 230 vehicles.

“The state government has earmarked a budget of around Rs 40 crore to deal with the wildfire problem this year. Five AI camera towers installed in the Similipal tiger reserve will be put to use. Two more such towers will be installed in Satkosia tiger reserve in next one month,” Biswal said.

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