MAJOR FOREST FIRES IN INDIA

Uttarakhand

forest fires

Ganga-Yamuna watershed

Himachal forest fires

Maharashtra forest fires

NEW DELHI: The raging fires in Brazil 's Amazon rainforest have caught international attention. However, forest fires are not unique to Amazon. California forest fires have been hitting the headlines for years now. Closer home, forest fires in India have increased nearly three times in the last few years. In the more recent data, a total of 28,252 forest fire incidents were detected by the Forest Survey of India using MODIS sensors from January 1 to June 16 this year. Forest fires in peak summers have become normal in the past few years in India.Fires are an annual occurrence in the forests of Uttarakhand. But the state witnessed the most severe fires during the summer of 1995 (when it was part of Uttar Pradesh). It caused large scale destruction and wiped off a whopping 3,75,000 hectares of forest land. Since its formation in 2000, Uttarakhand has lost 44,518 hectares of forest land to fire.In 1999, the fire in Ganga-Yamuna watershed caused widespread devastation. Ganga-Yamuna watershed is the most vital of the country’s four watersheds. The region saw more than 80,000 hectares of forest land turning into ashes.Fires wreaked havoc on the forests of Himachal in 2010. As much as 19,000 hectares of forest land was gobbled by it.In 2008, fires went out of control in the Melghat region of Amravati district in Maharashtra, engulfing some 10,000 hectares of forest land.