Lok Sabha Question No. 2213 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2024-08-05
Subject: Forest Fires Alert System
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Smt. Kanimozhi Karunanidhi

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2213

TO BE ANSWERED ON 05.08.2024

## Forest Fires Alert System

## 2213. SMT. KANIMOZHI KARUNANIDHI :

Will the Minister of ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE be pleased to state:

- (a) the details of the breakdown of forest fire incidents reported across the country during the last five years, State-wise;
- (b) whether the current Forest Fire Alert System (FAST) has failed to generate alerts for forest fires, and if so, the reasons therefor;
- (c) the details of the coverage of the Forest Fire Alert System (FAST) 3.0, in terms of square kilometres and details of the Forest area still left to be covered, State-wise;
- (d) the details of losses incurred due to forest fires, including area impacted, number of forest fires, and economic losses, State-wise; and
- (e) the details of the modern equipment and technologies deployed under FAST 3.0 for forest fire  detection  and  monitoring,  along  with  their  deployment  in  each  State  including  the details of funds allocated since its inception?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE (SHRI KIRTI VARDHAN SINGH)

- (a) Seasonal  forest  fires  occur  every  year  due  to  various  natural  and  anthropogenic reasons including accumulations of inflammable materials such as dry leaves, twigs, pine needles, etc. Most of the forest fires in the country are ground fires in which ground  vegetation,  etc.  are  burnt.  The  number  of  incidences  of  forest  fire  in  the country  varies  from  year  to  year  depending  on  the  vulnerability  of  the  forests  to various forest fire risk factors.

The State-wise number of forest fire detections by the Forest Survey of India (FSI), Dehradun  using  satellite-mounted  sensors  in  the  last  five  forest  fire  seasons (November 2019 to June 2024) are given in Annexure .

- (b) & (c) No, Sir. As per the information received from the Forest Survey of India, the Forest Fire  Alert  System  (FAST)  uses  hotspot  data  from  Moderate  Resolution  Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) with a special resolution of 1 km x 1 km and Suomi National Polar-Orbiting Partnership (SNPP)-Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) sensor with a special resolution of 375 m x 375 m to generate alerts based on the sensor detections. The FAST functioned effectively during the forest fire season and disseminated more than 112.67 lakhs of forest fire alerts to registered users across the States and UTs during the last forest fire season (November 2023 to

June 2024). A new version of Forest Fire Alert System, FAST 3.0 was launched in 2019 by adding several new features to its earlier version. FAST 3.0 is operational over the entire country and no forest area is left to be covered.

- (d) The  FSI  has  been  carrying  out  assessment  of  forest  resources  of  the  country biennially  since  1987  and  the findings  have  been  published  in  the  India  State  of Forest Report (ISFR) series. Till the year 2023-2024, no survey of burnt forest area has been made by the Forest Survey of India, Dehradun.

However, the  FSI  has  carried  out  a  burnt  scar  assessment  based  on  the  requests received from the State Forest Departments of Kerala and Uttarakhand for the forest fire season 2021-2022 and of the State of Manipur for the forest fire season 20222023.

Approximately, 85.89 square kilometers were delineated as burnt scars in Kerala, and 1781.39 square kilometers were delineated as burnt scars in Uttarakhand during the forest fire season 2021-2022. For the State of Manipur, approximately 861.32 square kilometers of burnt forest area was delineated during the forest fire season 2022-2023.

No estimation of economic losses due to forest fire in the country has been made by the Ministry.

- (e) Forest fire detections by FSI are primarily based on the thermal anomalies captured by the Satellite sensors. The hotspots detected by MODIS and SNPP-VIIRS sensors are  received  at  Shadnagar  Earth  Station  (National  Remote  Sensing  Centre)  and processed using a standard algorithm. The fire hotspots are electronically shared with FSI, which are further processed automatically at FSI headquarters in Dehradun and alerts  are  generated  and  disseminated  to  the  registered  end  users.  FAST  3.0  is deployed at FSI, Dehradun for forest fire detection, monitoring and to disseminate forest fires alerts to States.

The Ministry assists the State Governments and Union Territory Administrations in undertaking  various  activities  towards  prevention  and  control  of  forest  fires  by providing financial assistance under the ongoing Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) - Forest Fire Prevention and Management.

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## ANNEXURE REFERRED IN THE LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2213 DUE FOR REPLY  ON  05.08.2024  REGARDING  FOREST  FIRES  ALERT  SYSTEM  ASKED  BY  SMT. KANIMOZHI KARUNANIDHI

State-wise number of forest fire detections by the Forest Survey of India (FSI), using satellite-mounted sensor in the last five forest fire seasons (November 2019 to June 2024).

| Sr. No   | State/UT                           | SNPP-VIIRS Detections   | SNPP-VIIRS Detections   | SNPP-VIIRS Detections   | SNPP-VIIRS Detections   | SNPP-VIIRS Detections   |
|----------|------------------------------------|-------------------------|-------------------------|-------------------------|-------------------------|-------------------------|
| Sr. No   | State/UT                           | Nov 2019 to Jun 2020    | Nov 2020 to Jun 2021    | Nov 2021 to Jun 2022    | Nov 2022 to Jun 2023    | Nov 2023 to Jun 2024    |
| 1        | Andhra Pradesh                     | 9,996                   | 19,328                  | 14,138                  | 19,367                  | 18,174                  |
| 2        | Arunachal Pradesh                  | 1,786                   | 3,914                   | 3,449                   | 2,447                   | 2,053                   |
| 3        | Assam                              | 8,924                   | 10,718                  | 8,158                   | 9,830                   | 7,639                   |
| 4        | Bihar                              | 614                     | 5,179                   | 3,024                   | 3,793                   | 2,763                   |
| 5        | Chhattisgarh                       | 6,360                   | 38,106                  | 25,792                  | 20,306                  | 18,950                  |
| 6        | Delhi                              | 21                      | 14                      | 3                       | 7                       | 16                      |
| 7        | Goa                                | 47                      | 45                      | 20                      | 147                     | 36                      |
| 8        | Gujarat                            | 2,770                   | 3,803                   | 2,769                   | 2,342                   | 3,182                   |
| 9        | Haryana                            | 68                      | 152                     | 135                     | 82                      | 166                     |
| 10       | Himachal Pradesh                   | 536                     | 4,110                   | 5,280                   | 704                     | 10,136                  |
| 11       | Jharkhand                          | 2,613                   | 21,713                  | 9,419                   | 11,923                  | 7,525                   |
| 12       | Karnataka                          | 4,232                   | 5,784                   | 4,973                   | 13,074                  | 5,500                   |
| 13       | Kerala                             | 864                     | 296                     | 504                     | 1,550                   | 1,110                   |
| 14       | Madhya Pradesh                     | 9,537                   | 47,795                  | 32,728                  | 17,142                  | 15,878                  |
| 15       | Maharashtra                        | 14,018                  | 34,025                  | 22,052                  | 16,119                  | 16,008                  |
| 16       | Manipur                            | 8,800                   | 10,457                  | 5,544                   | 10,127                  | 4,498                   |
| 17       | Meghalaya                          | 6,762                   | 7,658                   | 6,322                   | 6,604                   | 4,319                   |
| 18       | Mizoram                            | 7,361                   | 12,846                  | 8,734                   | 5,798                   | 6,627                   |
| 19       | Nagaland                           | 2,905                   | 4,975                   | 3,471                   | 3,882                   | 2,609                   |
| 20       | Odisha                             | 10,602                  | 51,968                  | 22,014                  | 33,461                  | 20,973                  |
| 21       | Punjab                             | 153                     | 635                     | 428                     | 119                     | 605                     |
| 22       | Rajasthan                          | 3,461                   | 3,402                   | 2,703                   | 2,059                   | 4,352                   |
| 23       | Sikkim                             | 47                      | 63                      | 26                      | 49                      | 101                     |
| 24       | Tamil Nadu                         | 1,368                   | 1,220                   | 1,035                   | 1,998                   | 3,380                   |
| 25       | Telangana                          | 12,132                  | 18,237                  | 13,737                  | 13,117                  | 13,479                  |
| 26       | Tripura                            | 4,369                   | 5,015                   | 2,609                   | 4,332                   | 2,089                   |
| 27       | Uttar Pradesh                      | 1,548                   | 8,608                   | 5,428                   | 3,235                   | 4,424                   |
| 28       | Uttarakhand                        | 759                     | 21,487                  | 12,985                  | 5,351                   | 21,033                  |
| 29       | West Bengal                        | 1,320                   | 3,287                   | 1,520                   | 3,096                   | 2,020                   |
| 30       | Andaman &Nicobar Islands           | 39                      | 16                      | 33                      | 20                      | 21                      |
| 31       | Chandigarh                         | 2                       | 0                       | 0                       | 1                       | 1                       |
| 32       | Dadra &Nagar Haveli and Daman &Diu | 21                      | 34                      | 18                      | 16                      | 16                      |
| 33       | Jammu &Kashmir                     |                         |                         | 4,255                   | 131                     | 3,829                   |
| 34       | Ladakh*                            | 438                     | 1,098                   | 27                      | 20                      | 32                      |
| 35       | Lakshadweep                        | 0                       | 0                       | 0                       | 0                       | 0                       |
| 36       | Puducherry                         | 0                       | 1                       | 0                       | 0                       | 0                       |
| Total    | Total                              | 1,24,473                | 3,45,989                | 2,23,333                | 2,12,249                | 2,03,544                |