Forest Fire | UPSC Mains: Internal Security & Disaster Management PDF Download

The most common hazard in forests is forests fire. Forests fires are as old as the forests themselves. They pose a threat not only to the forest wealth but also to the entire regime to fauna and flora seriously disturbing the bio-diversity and the ecology and environment of a region. During summer, when there is no rain for months, the forests become littered with dry senescent leaves and twinges, which could burst into flames ignited by the slightest spark. The Himalayan forests, particularly, Garhwal Himalayas have been burning regularly during the last few summers, with colossal loss of vegetation cover of that region.

Causes of Forest Fire

Forest fires are caused by Natural causes as well as Man made causes

• Natural causes - Many forest fires start from natural causes such as lightning which set trees on fire. However, rain extinguishes such fires without causing much damage. High atmospheric temperatures and dryness (low humidity) offer favorable circumstance for a fire to start.
• Man made causes - Fire is caused when a source of fire like naked flame, cigarette or bidi, electric spark or any source of ignition comes into contact with inflammable material.

Classification of Forest Fire

Forest fire can broadly be classified into three categories;

• Natural or controlled forest fire.
• Forest fires caused by heat generated in the litter and other biomes in summer through carelessness of people (human neglect) and
• Forest fires purposely caused by local inhabitants.

Types of Forest Fire

The types of forest fire are as follows

• Surface Fire - A forest fire may burn primarily as a surface fire, spreading along the ground as the surface litter (senescent leaves and twigs and dry grasses etc) on the forest floor and is engulfed by the spreading flames.
• Underground Fire - The fires of low intensity, consuming the organic matter beneath and the surface litter of forest floor are sub-grouped as underground fire. In most of the dense forests a thick mantle of organic matter is find on top of the mineral soil. This fire spreads in by consuming such materials. These fires usually spread entirely underground and burn for some meters below the surface. This fire spreads very slowly and in most of the cases it becomes very hard to detect and control such type of fires. They may continue to burn for months and destroy vegetative cover of the soil. The other terminology for this type of fire is Muck fires.
• Ground Fire - These fires are fires in the sub surface organic fuels, such as duff layers under forest stands, Arctic tundra or taiga, and organic soils of swamps or bogs. There is no clear distinction between underground and ground fires. The smoldering under ground fires sometime changes into Ground fire. This fire burns root and other material on or beneath the surface i.e. burns the herbaceous growth on forest floor together with the layer of organic matter in various stages of decay. They are more damaging than surface fires, as they can destroy vegetation completely. Ground fires burn underneath the surface by smoldering combustion and are more often ignited by surface fires.
• Crown Fire - A crown fire is one in which the crown of trees and shrubs burn, often sustained by a surface fire. A crown fire is particularly very dangerous in a coniferous forest because resinous material given off burning logs burn furiously. On hill slopes, if the fire starts downhill, it spreads up fast as heated air adjacent to a slope tends to flow up the slope spreading flames along with it. If the fire starts uphill, there is less likelihood of it spreading downwards.
• Firestorms - Among the forest fires, the fire spreading most rapidly is the firestorm, which is an intense fire over a large area. As the fire burns, heat rises and air rushes in, causing the fire to grow. More air makes the fire spin violently like a storm. Flames fly out from the base and burning ember spew out the top of the fiery twister, starting smaller fires around it. Temperatures inside these storms can reach around 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit.

Instances of Forest Fires in 2021:

• January saw prolonged fires in Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh (Kullu Valley) and Nagaland-Manipur border (Dzukou Valley).
• The Simlipal National Park in Odisha saw a major fire between February-end and early March.
• Recent fires also include those in Bandhavgarh Forest Reserve in Madhya Pradesh, and in sanctuaries for the Asiatic lion and the great Indian bustard in Gujarat.

Vulnerability of India’s Forests to Fires:

• As of 2019, about 21.67% (7,12,249 sq km) of the country’s geographical area is identified as forest, according to the India State of Forest Report 2019 (ISFR) released by the Forest Survey of India (FSI), Dehradun.
• Tree cover makes up another 2.89% (95, 027 sq km).
• Based on previous fire incidents and records, forests of the Northeast and central India regions are the most vulnerable areas to forest fires.
• Forests in Assam, Mizoram and Tripura have been identified as ‘extremely prone’ to forest fire.
• States with large forest areas under the ‘very highly prone’ category include Andhra Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha, Maharashtra, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
• As per the 2020-2021 annual report of the MoEFCC, Western Maharashtra, Southern Chhattisgarh and areas of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, along with central Odisha, are turning into ‘extremely prone’ forest fire hotspots.
• Areas under the ‘highly prone’ and ‘moderately prone’ categories make up about 26.2% of the total forest cover — a whopping 1,72,374 sq km.

Cause of Forest Fires:

• Forest fires can be caused by a number of natural causes, but many major fires in India are triggered mainly by human activities.
• Emerging studies link climate change to rising instances of fires globally, especially the massive fires of the Amazon forests in Brazil and in Australia in the last two years.
• Fires of longer duration, increasing intensity, higher frequency and highly inflammable nature are all being linked to climate change.
• In India, forest fires are most commonly reported during March and April, when the ground has large quantities of dry wood, logs, dead leaves, stumps, dry grass and weeds that can make forests easily go up in flames if there is a trigger.
• In Uttarakhand, the lack of soil moisture too is being seen as a key factor. In two consecutive monsoon seasons (2019 and 2020), rainfall has been deficient by 18% and 20% of the seasonal average, respectively.
• Most fires are man-made, sometimes even deliberately caused. For example, in Odisha, which saw a major fire last month in Simlipal forest, villagers are known to set dry leaves to fire in order to collect mahua flowers, which go into preparation of a local drink.

Impact of Forest Fire:

• Forest fires can have multiple adverse effects on the forest cover, soil, tree growth, vegetation, and the overall flora and fauna.
• Fires render several hectares of forest useless and leave behind ash, making it unfit for any vegetation growth.
• Heat generated during the fire destroys animal habitats.
• Soil quality decreases with the alteration in their compositions.
• Soil moisture and fertility, too, is affected.
• Forests can shrink in size.
• The trees that survive fire often remain stunted and growth is severely affected.

Importance of Forests:

• Forests play an important role in mitigation and adaptation to climate change.
• They act as a sink, reservoir and source of carbon.
• A healthy forest stores and sequesters more carbon than any other terrestrial ecosystem.
• In India, with 1.70 lakh villages in close proximity to forests (Census 2011), the livelihood of several crores of people is dependent on fuelwood, bamboo, fodder, and small timber.

Efforts to Mitigate Forest Fires:

• Since 2004, the FSI (Forest Survey of India) developed the Forest Fire Alert System to monitor forest fires in real time.
• In its advanced version launched in January 2019, the system now uses satellite information gathered from NASA and ISRO.
• National Action Plan on Forest Fires (NAPFF) 2018 and Forest Fire Prevention and Management Scheme.