Explained: Why are forest fires in the hills intensifying this summer?

How are forest fires classified?

Forest fires are broadly categorised into three categories – ground, surface and crown fire. Fires that burn organic material in the soil are called ground fires, and they burn slowly, under vegetation. Surface fires are caused largely by burning of dry leaves, branches and other materials on the ground. Such fires spread swiftly, as in the case of fires in Himachal. Crown fires burn quickly, from one tree top to another and have huge flames with intense heat. Such fires are rare in India.

Meanwhile, large forest fires are the most challenging to control due to their intensity, geographical cover and duration that can go up to 5 days.

Has there been a spike in fire incidents this year?

The FSI data on forest fire points between March 1 and April 30 this year shows a clear spike in incidents coinciding with rising heatwave conditions. The number of forest fire points rose from 8,735 to 42,486 during the four weeks in March. However, the week-wise progress in the number of forest fire points in April peaked in the first week, fell to 13,719 in the second week and picked up to touch 20,285 in the last week.

Why are fires raging in Himachal forests?

Himachal has witnessed almost 750 fires in April. These fires have ravaged around 5,662 hectares in the forests of Shimla, Chamba, Bilaspur, Dharamshala, Hamirpur, Kullu Mandi, Rampur, Nahan and the Great Himalayan National Park at Shamshi in the Kullu region.

This is a big jump from 2020-2021 when the state had reported 1,045 forest fire incidents in the entire summer. The last time the state had experienced such ferocious fires was in 2018-2019 when their number touched 2,544.

Blaming hot and dry weather for the frequent fires, Ajay Srivastav, principal chief conservator of forests, Himachal, said: “Usually the forests are humid during April. But this time, the last rainfall took place in February. We had a rain deficiency of 90-94 per cent this April against 84 per cent in the corresponding period last year. The chir pine forests are crackling dry, there is zero humidity – one spark and the entire forest catches fire.”

Forest officials said that human negligence is also contributing to these fires. Even a cigarette butt, or the act of setting dry leaves on fire can trigger a massive fire, they added.

Have forest fires worsened this year in Uttarakhand?

In the last three months, Uttarakhand has recorded at least 1,791 forest fires that have scorched over 2,891 hectares of forest land, including 2,079 hectares of reserve forest areas. These fires have caused estimated damage to property worth over Rs 74 lakh and death of at least one person.

While the numbers are lesser in last year’s comparison, the issue of forest fires intensifying mainly in mid-February and continuing usually till mid-June is a major problem for the hill state which has forests in almost 71 per cent of its geographical area.

Nishant Verma, chief conservator of forests, admitted that the number of forest fires this year increased significantly in the month of April mainly due to unexpected rise in temperature and less rain. He added that strong wind velocity also contributed majorly to spreading the fires fast across the jungles.

How vulnerable are forests in Uttarakhand and Himachal?

Out of the total forest land in Uttarakhand, 26 per cent consists of pine trees. Dry pine leaves are highly inflammable and significantly increase the fuel load. Officials admit that the situation is alarming because the peak time for forest fire – the third week of May when the temperatures are the highest – is yet to come.

In Himachal, of the 196 forest ranges in Himachal Pradesh, 80 are vulnerable to fires. The chir pine forests which make up 15 percent of Himachal’s forests, are most prone to fires. The chir forests are spread over an area of 1258.85 sq km, which is about 3.4 per cent of the total forest area of the state.

How have other places prone to forest fires fared so far?

Apart from Himachal and Uttarakhand, Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tripura, Mizoram and Odisha report frequent forest fires annually.

Incidentally, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Odisha — along with Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra — have been the top five states reporting high number of large forest fires ranging between 143 to 441 between November 2021 and April 2022.

How can these fires be prevented and doused?

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change lists the following methods to prevent and control a forest fire: construction of watch towers for early detection; deployment of fire watchers; creation and maintenance of fire lines, besides involvement of local communities. Use of remote sensing technology and Moderate Resolution Imagine Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite data for detection of active forest fires is also advised.

Ajay Srivastav, principal chief conservator of forests, Himachal, said most of the fires are being brought under control manually with the help of forest guards, labourers and volunteers.

“We had taken proactive steps such as burning controlled fires but we had never expected this extent and spread so soon.’’ Firemen hope rains will come to their rescue.

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