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