Wildfires Rage Amid Dry Weather & Heat Waves

Following an unusually dry winter and early heat waves, many forests across India’s northern mountains and central plains are ablaze. Experts warn that shifting climate patterns combined with human activity are driving longer, more intense wildfire seasons, with growing ecological and climatic fallout.

Since early April, satellite data from the Forest Survey of India (FSI) has recorded thousands of forest fire incidents, with the central state of Madhya Pradesh reporting the highest number — 2,754 incidents between April 11 and 18. Maharashtra followed with 1,766 fires, Chhattisgarh with 876, and Odisha with 603.

These figures mark a continuation of a broader trend. Since November 1, 2024, Madhya Pradesh has recorded more than 21,000 fires. Nationwide, fire alerts peaked in March with over 84,000 incidents.

Meanwhile, fires have also been reported in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand in the north.

The fires are degrading forests, threatening biodiversity, and accelerating desertification, FSI scientists note. “A dry winter sets the stage, but there are different reasons for fires in different regions,” said Sunil Chandra, deputy director at FSI, while talking to Mongabay India.

While it is hard to determine the triggers of individual fire events, foresters in India and several studies say that 90% of the fires are started by human beings. “People living on the fringes of the forests and communities dependent on forests often start them,” Chandra said.

Changing seasons

While the number and intensity of forest fires depend largely on moisture and fuel availability, the unusually dry winter along with early heat waves are making fires rage along the Himalayan foothills and the slopes and plains of central India.

The winter of 2024–25 was among the driest in recent memory for large parts of India, particularly in the Himalayan region. Snowfall and rain deficits reached over 80% in Jammu and Kashmir, leading to water shortages and the drying up of its fabled springs — such as the one in Achabal, which residents say has never run dry before. The lack of snow even forced the cancellation of India’s national winter games in Gulmarg.

Climate scientists attributed the anomalies to a weak Western disturbance pattern and global teleconnections such as El Niño. Western disturbances are weather systems that travel high in the atmosphere along strong winds from the west, often bringing heavy winter rain to parts of northern India and Pakistan. El Niño is a natural climate phenomenon characterised by unusually warm ocean temperatures in the equatorial Pacific Ocean. This warming disrupts typical weather patterns, leading to significant global impacts. El Niño is associated with less rainfall in India.

Meanwhile, north and central India are grappling with unusually early and intense heat waves in 2025, with temperatures soaring well above normal by late March. New Delhi crossed 40°C weeks ahead of schedule, even as the India Meteorological Department (IMD) warned of above-average temperatures.

After record-breaking temperatures in February, IMD warned of an unusually hot summer. There have been heat wave alerts across multiple states, including Madhya Pradesh and Odisha. Meanwhile, close to the Himalayas, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, and Jammu and Kashmir are now bracing for heat waves.

The result: a dry, warm winter with long-term implications for water security, agriculture, and fire risk across the subcontinent.

Forest fire trends

According to the India State of Forest Report 2023, the number of forest fire hotspots has shown a declining trend over the past three fire seasons. In the 2021–2022 season, 2,23,333 fire spots were recorded, which decreased to 2,12,249 in 2022–2023, and further declined to 2,03,544 in the 2023–2024 season.

India’s forest fire monitoring system relies on real-time satellite inputs from NASA’s Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instruments that scan each area up to six times a day. The above figures come from the VIIRS data.

Although fires often appear to be on the decline, longer-term data suggest otherwise. A comprehensive analysis of forest fires in India from 2005 to 2022 revealed a striking long-term increase in fire incidents, challenging earlier suggestions of a decline. Initial comparisons — such as between 2005 and 2010 — had pointed to a drop in forest fire points. But this deeper, long-range review by the ICAR-National Institute of Veterinary Epidemiology and Disease Informatics (NIVEDI) scientists at Bengaluru, paints a different picture. While some intervals showed brief reductions, the broader trend indicated a consistent escalation in forest fire occurrences across the country.

This rise became particularly evident in the data from recent years, where environmental and climate factors appeared to intensify both the frequency and severity of wildfires. In the backdrop, maximum temperatures across India rose steadily between 2005 and 2022, climbing from 30.19° C to 30.45° C — evidence of a warming climate, as the above study noted. Minimum temperatures followed a similar trend, increasing from 18.76° C to 19.10° C during the same period.

The people factor

One of the key drivers of forest fire incidents in densely forested landscapes has been rising population density. Natural causes such as lightning and work from bamboo rubbing against one another in high wind, play only a very limited role in igniting forest fires, Chandra pointed out.

In northeast India, for instance, most forest fires are linked to shifting cultivation, also known as slash-and-burn farming. Rapid population growth in the region has shortened the fallow periods between crop cycles, contributing to more frequent and intense fires, the ICAR-NIVEDI paper said.

In central India, people often set fire to the undergrowth to collect Mahua flowers. In Uttarakhand, people sometimes set fire to forests because the burnt leaves release nutrients that promote the growth of edible fungi. In the Himalayan foothills, fires are sometimes lit to promote the growth of edible fungi.

“The fires are mostly incidental, caused by anthropogenic interference, worsened by shifting rainfall patterns and longer dry spells,” said Chethan Kumar, a wildlife expert and assistant professor at Christ University in Bengaluru. “Cultural practices, intentional burning for agriculture, poaching, waste disposal, and even discarded cigarettes play a significant role.”

“I once witnessed a man-made fire in the Indian Himalayan Region,” Kumar said. “Locals admitted it was to clear shrubs. It burned for two days. The terrain made firefighting nearly impossible.”

Research from India and around the world has consistently underscored the local people’s critical role in influencing and controlling fire patterns — making it a central factor in forest fire monitoring and management efforts. They make fire lines, clear undergrowth, and douse fires.

Ecosystem at risk

Forest fires, though sometimes part of natural regeneration cycles, have become increasingly destructive. Fire helps clear excessive litter, recycle nutrients, and sometimes promote seed growth. But of late, fires are often too frequent and intense, causing far more harm than good.

“Wildfires damage habitats, displace species, and degrade soil. Amphibians and reptiles are particularly vulnerable, often unable to escape advancing flames,” Kumar pointed out. Fires also release stored carbon from forest biomass and soil back into the atmosphere, contributing to climate change.

At the same time, fires produce charcoal — a form of stable carbon that can lock away emissions for decades. According to scientific estimates, about 12% of global carbon emissions from wildfires are offset by charcoal that remains in soils.

While FSI scientists do not directly attribute the current rise in fires to climate change, global and regional studies have linked climate change to wildfires, and recommend climate adaptive forest fire management strategies.

As India braces for a summer with rising temperatures and an early onset of heat waves, a study published in Nature last month, also calls for enhanced fire management, greater public awareness, and stronger adaptation strategies at the global level. Another recent study in the Journal of Tropical Forest Science emphasised that addressing forest fires in India requires a mix of mitigation strategies, including improving resource availability, reducing economic vulnerabilities, and building adaptive capacities at local levels.

(Published under Creative Commons from Mongabay India. Read the original article here)