As the mercury rises with the early onset of summer, can forest fires be far behind? According to the the Forest Survey of India website, there are as many as 337 large active forest fires in the country as of March 14 — with 38 in Arunachal Pradesh, 18 in Jharkhand, 16 in Manipur, 15 in Meghalaya, 44 in Mizoram and 147 in Odisha, among others.

While forest fires can occur due to natural reasons such as lightning strikes or dryness in forests, they are also triggered by human activity such as throwing burning stubs of cigarettes and bidis on dry leaves.

The forest fires in Odisha come in the backdrop of the state not receiving any rain since October, which has resulted in forests experiencing dryness and the forest fires spreading.

On another note, P.K. Amat, Odisha's Forest and Environment Minister, on Tuesday, March 15, said all fires detected in the state via satellite imagery were not forest fires. He said farmers were burning stubble after harvesting to clear their fields, and the same were also caught by the satellites.

The most recent large forest fire incident was reported on March 15, near the Kodaikanal hills in the Dindigul district of Tamil Nadu. Last month, Supriya Sahu, Tamil Nadu's Additional Chief Secretary for Environment, Climate Change and Forests, had tweeted pictures and videos of the preparation and mitigation workshops in case of forest fires in the state.

"As dry season starts forests are at great risk of Forest Fire disasters. Teams need to be alert and on their toes. Tamil Nadu Forest Department is geared up. We had a State Workshop for DFOs. Mock drills, field perumbulation, working with local communities is key," her tweet said.

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Goa's Forest Minister Vishwajit Rane on Tuesday (March 14) said at least 71 fire spots had been attended to in the state's forests in 10 days. These included the Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary.

The fires had begun on March 5 and the minister had chaired a meeting to review the situation on Tuesday.

He said the state government would prepare a fire management plan to prevent as well as manage forest fires.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, a fire was raging in the Sonitpur forests of Assam after miscreants started it in the Balipara Reserve Forest.

According to local reports, Manipur Police on Wednesday (March 15) arrested three honey hunters for setting dry grass on fire, which resulted in a forest fire in the southeastern part of the state — the Tentha Kangla Chingdol Forest.

According to official data, from November 2021 till June 2022, Madhya Pradesh recorded the highest number of fire incidents, followed by Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh.

Meanwhile, a 50-member team from the National Disaster Response Force's (NDRF) 15th battalion completed a two-week special training programme last month on forest fire prevention and mitigation strategies.

According to data from the Uttarakhand Forest Department, close to 99 hectares of forest cover in the state have been affected by forest fires in the previous five months.

(Edited by : Shoma Bhattacharjee)