Arijit Roy, Shailja Mamgain, CM Bhatt and Harish Karnatak
Wildfires in Uttarakhand have become a recurring phenomenon over the years, which are getting intensified with the changing climate over time. Wildfire season in Uttarakhand starts from mid-February, characterized by dry weather and fuel condition owing to rising temperatures. These conditions persist till mid-June, posing substantial challenges to the forest fire management and forest conservation efforts. Frequency of Forest Fire in Uttarakhand during 01-February to 24-April, 2024 has seen a notable increase of more than two-fold as compared to the same time period in 2023 (source: FIRMS, NASA). Figure 1 shows the high clustering of forest fire incidences on the south-eastern part of the state constituting the region of Kumaon division.
Figure 1. Forest fire incidences during Feb-01 to April-24, 2023 and 2024 in Uttarakhand (source: FIRMS, NASA)
District-wise analysis of forest fire frequency states that Nainital district has recorded the maximum forest fire incidences during 01-February to 24-April, 2024 which is approximately five times more than the previous year’s count, followed by Champawat, Almora, Pauri and Pithoragarh (Table 1).
| DISTRICT | 2023 | 2024 |
| ALMORA | 443 | 965 |
| BAGESHWAR | 118 | 238 |
| CHAMOLI | 220 | 361 |
| CHAMPAWAT | 145 | 1135 |
| DEHRADUN | 76 | 94 |
| HARIDWAR | 101 | 54 |
| NAINITAL | 316 | 1715 |
| PAURI GARHWAL | 459 | 723 |
| PITHORAGARH | 314 | 697 |
| RUDRAPRAYAG | 48 | 171 |
| TEHRI GARHWAL | 169 | 431 |
| UDHAM SINGH NAGAR | 224 | 417 |
| UTTARKASHI | 81 | 121 |
| TOTAL FIRE COUNT | 2714 | 7122 |
Time-series analysis of fire incidences for the aforementioned time period for 2024 highlights that first peak of fire incidences was during the first week while the second peak occurred during the third week of April (Figure 2 (a)).
Figure 2. (a) Daily forest fire incidence for 2023 and 2024, (b) Daily precipitation from 01-Jan to 01-April, 2023 and 2024 for Uttarakhand
Driven by dry weather conditions due to prolonged dry spell during March, 2024, the forest fire has become more severe over the large areas, which was comparatively way too less during 2023 due to good amount of rainfall during March (source: CHIRPS rainfall) (Figure 2(b)). Lack of rainfall accompanied by rise in temperature during March has led to the depletion of fuel and soil moisture which resulted into the severe Forest Fire in the various parts of Uttarakhand during April, 2024.