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FOREST FIRE ACTIVITIES

Forest fires are a regular phenomenon in our country often observed during summers. A number of 52,785 forest fires were detected using MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectro-radiometer) sensor and 3,45,989 forest fires were detected using SNPP-VIIRS (Suomi-National Polar-orbiting Partnership - Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite)in forest fire season from Nov 2020 to June 2021. Severe fires occur in many forest types particularly dry deciduous forest, while evergreen, semi-evergreen and montane temperate forests are comparatively less prone (ISFR 2015). More than 36% of the country’s forest cover has been estimated to be prone to frequent forest fires. Nearly 4 % of the country’s forest cover is extremely prone to fire, whereas 6% of forest cover is found to be very highly fire prone (ISFR 2019) . Every year large areas of forests are affected by fires of varying intensity and extent. Based on the forest inventory records, 54.40% of forests in India are exposed to occasional fires, 7.49% to moderately frequent fires and 2.40% to high incidence levels while 35.71% of India’s forests have not yet been exposed to fires of any real significance. Precious forest resources including carbon locked in the biomass is lost due to forest fires every year, which adversely impact the flow of goods and services from forests. Satellite based remote sensing technology and GIS tools have been effective in better prevention and management of fires through creation of early warning for fire prone areas, monitoring fires on real time basis and estimation of burnt scars.

Satellite based remote sensing technology and GIS tools have been effective in better prevention and management of fires through creation of Forest Fire Danger Rating System based on Fire Weather Index (FWI) of Canadian Forest Fire Danger Rating System (CFFDRS), Monitoring Forest Fire detections and Large Forest Fire on real time basis and estimation of fire affected areas.

Timeline of Forest Fire activities at FSI

Year Milestones
2004 Started dissemination of forest fire alerts based on MODIS data up to district level through email/FAX
2008 Initiation of SMS alerts on number of fires in State/District
2012
1 Introduced KML files in email alerts up to district level along with SMS alerts
2 Publication of “Vulnerability of India’s forests to fires” report
2016
1 Introduction of automated email alertsto nodal officers using python script
2 Pilot study on country-wide burnt scar assessment for 2015 and 2016
3 Pre-warning alerts piloted for Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh
2017
1 Complete automation of entire FSI Forest Fire Alert System
2 SNPP-VIIRS sensor added to FSI forest fire monitoring system
3 Forest Fire Alert dissemination up to beat level
4 Pre-Fire Alerts piloted for pan India
2018 Introduction of improved feedback system for forest fire alerts
2019
1 Initiation of satellite based large forest fire monitoring program
2 FSI Van Agni Geo-portal
3 Pre-Fire Alert based on Fire Weather Index
4 Identification of Fire prone forest area
2020
1 Introduced forest fires danger rating
2 Strengthening of large forest fire monitoring system and FSI Van Agni Geo-portal
3 WMS and API to state forest department
2021
1 Special monitoring of large forest fire events like Dzukou Valley, Similipal TR, Bandhavgarh TR etc
2 Special report of unusual increase of forest fire alert in the State
3 Special report of Pre-Fire Alerts

STATE OF FOREST REPORT 2021

India State of Forest Report (ISFR) is a biennial publication of Forest Survey of India (FSI) an organization under the Ministry of Environment Forest & Climate Change Government of India

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