Forest fires in Odisha have increased fourfold in only one month
The state’s wildfire rate has increased fourfold in less than a month as a result of increasing temperatures, and the government has requested that the Forest Department adopt appropriate preventative steps to properly manage these situations.
In order to fight forest fires and save animals during the current fire season, the Forest Department has been instructed by Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) Satyabrata Sahu to step up community awareness campaigns.
In order to address the problem, he also requested that forest authorities organize the local community, Van Surakhya Samitis, and Panchayati Raj Institutions.
The number of forest fire occurrences has increased to 4,525 from merely 957 at the end of February due to the discovery of 3,572 fire sites between March 1 and March 31. In actuality, the last week of March saw reports of half of the fire occurrences that were documented.
According to data from the Forest Survey of India (FSI), 1,792 forest fire sites were found in the state overall between March 25 and March 31. The spike in wildfire incidences is thought to have been caused by a rapid increase in mercury levels.
Authorities sent fire teams to several areas on Sunday after discovering 327 fire hotspots around the state. The number of significant forest fire events, which was just two on March 29, increased to 27 as the temperature progressively rose, hinting to the impending catastrophe the state would confront when summer peaks in April and May.
Given the increasing mercury level, PCCF and HoFF Debidutta Biswal said that the department is closely monitoring the situation. In comparison to the same time last year, he said that the number of forest fires reported this season is much lower and that the situation is under control.
19,988 forest fire hotspots were found in the state between January and March 2023, according to FSI statistics. The PCCF said that fire protection teams have already been mobilized and that the response rate to date is about 98.7% in light of the upcoming wildfire season.
