Dehradun, 24 December 2024: Uttarakhand has emerged as the top state for forest fire incidents, witnessing a staggering 74 percent rise in cases over the past season.
According to the Forest Survey of India (FSI), the state moved from 13th place last year to the highest rank in 2023-2024, with a dramatic increase in fire counts.
Satellite data revealed 21,033 fires between November 2023 and June 2024, up from 5,351 fires in the same period the previous year. In total, 1,808.9 sq km of Uttarakhand’s forest area was affected by these fires.
The neighboring state of Himachal Pradesh also saw a sharp rise in forest fires, increasing from just 704 incidents last season to 10,136 this season. As a result, Himachal’s rank soared from 24th place to eighth. The state’s fire outbreaks impacted an estimated 783.11 sq km of forested land.
Odisha ranked second, with 20,973 fire incidents this season compared to 33,461 in 2022-2023. Following Odisha, Chhattisgarh (18,950), Andhra Pradesh (18,174), Maharashtra (16,008), Madhya Pradesh (15,878), and Telangana (13,479) rounded out the top seven most affected states.
For the first time, the FSI has measured the extent of land affected by forest fires. Andhra Pradesh recorded the largest area impacted, with 5,286.76 sq km, followed by Maharashtra with 4,095.04 sq km, and Telangana with 3,983.28 sq km.
The report also highlighted regions more prone to wildfires, citing extreme climatic conditions and fuel wood presence as contributing factors to the spread of fire.
Uttarakhand has 2,021 sq km of forest area identified as being under “very high risk” of wildfires, the most among all states, followed by Himachal Pradesh with 192 sq km and Jammu and Kashmir with 62 sq km.
FSI noted that nearly 11.34 percent of the nation’s forest cover is located in zones with high to extreme fire risk.
Areas such as Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, and Uttarakhand are particularly vulnerable to devastating fires.
