Monday, 29 APRIL 2024 | PNS | DEHRADUN
All districts in Uttarakhand show increased incidents of forest fires in 2024 compared to 2023 in March and April months except Haridwar. Nainital, Champawat, Almora, Garhwal and Pithoragarh are the most affected areas in ascending order. Data from NASA further shows that the month of April experienced more fire incidents compared to March in both the years (2023 and 2024) but the incidents are much high this year. According to the data, there were 804 forest fire incidents in March 2023 and 585 in March 2024. Similarly, there were 1,046 forest fire incidents in April 2023 which increased to 5,710 incidents in April 2024. The most forest fire incidents in March and April this year have been reported in Nainital district with 1,524 incidents followed by Champawat with 1,025, Almora with 909, Pauri with 742 and Pithoragarh with 615. Among the remaining districts, 293 forest forest fire incidents have been reported in Chamoli district, 224 in Bageshwar, 62 in Dehradun, 25 in Haridwar, 117 in Rudraprayag, 380 in Tehri, 290 in Udham Singh Nagar and 89 in Uttarkashi.
A look at the daily data of fire incidents for the month of April 2024 from NASA shows a sudden spike in incidents from the first week of April and after a dip around April 14 the incidents reached an alarming high soon after. The additional principal chief conservator of forests (Environment), Kapil Kumar Joshi said that there are many adverse conditions that lead to forest fires in Uttarakhand. The more adverse conditions there are, the more forest fire incidents occur. Adverse climate conditions such as humidity levels, prolonged dry spells, high temperatures, wind direction and timing of rainfall all contribute to incidents of forest fires. “The changing climate conditions over the years have aggravated the adverse conditions. However, it is also a fact that forest fires are a normal phenomenon for the region. The technological advancements have helped in promptly and accurately spotting these forest fires over the years and hence more incident counts are reported and we are also better placed to control the fire,” he said.
