Bhubaneswar: The total number of active fire points in the state forests on Saturday crossed the 2,000-mark, with 304 incidents reported on the day, satellite data revealed. As March has arrived, the forest department is in readiness to combat the fire, with officials expecting daily active fire points likely exceeding 500.Nabarangpur forest division reported the highest 76 fire points on the day, followed by 40 in Baripada division, 38 in Dhenkanal and 23 in Keonjhar. The forests in these divisions are dense, also known for being habitats of elephants and other wild animals.“The temperature just touched 30 degrees Celsius in some divisions, but fire is raging. More than 95% of fire points are attended to, and they are doused before they spread. The present trend suggests that in March, daily active fire points may exceed 500,” said a senior forest official, in charge of monitoring the forest fires.“In the past two days, more than 700 fire points were detected in the state across 39 forest divisions. For a temporary phase, the fire is under control. This phase of moderate fire points being reported may continue for some days, even if there is no rain, as the moist and damp ground may stop the break outs. Most of the fires are ground fire and not crown,” said the senior forest official.According to the forest officials, most of the fires in Odisha are man-made and rampant from Feb to April. Villagers burn dry leaves while collecting mahua flowers as they never catch fire. In the process, forest fires break out.Similipal Tiger Reserve, whose topography includes hills and high terrain, records most fire incidents. But this year, Similipal’s fires are under control so far. Rain in the past two days further improved the situation in the largest reserve of the state, which witnessed its worst-ever fires in 2021.This year, Similipal inducted as many as 50 mini drones in both the north and south divisions to track real-time fire incidents. The mini drones will supplement the AI-based cameras’ fire detection capabilities. The tool is expected to reduce the spread of fire, as fire points can be detected and accessed quickly.
