Amid an ongoing heatwave, extensive forest fires have ravaged large areas across over 12 Indian states, stretching from Uttarakhand in the north to Gujarat in the west and Andhra Pradesh in the south. Madhya Pradesh has emerged as the most severely impacted state, according to government and remote sensing data.

While there have been no reported human casualties due to the fires in April, significant losses to wildlife and their habitats have occurred. Overpassing satellites have detected more than 634 “large fire” events in Madhya Pradesh, with 465 in Maharashtra, 465 in Chhattisgarh, and over 400 in Andhra Pradesh. In the northeast, where forests are particularly vulnerable to fires, Assam reported 190 incidents, while Manipur recorded 128.

The Forest Survey of India (FSI) classifies “large forest fires” as those covering at least three contiguous pixels identified by SNPP-VIIRS satellite sensors, which translates to an estimated area of 40 hectares or more. FSI data indicated that at least 10 forest fires had been burning for over three days continuously, with eight of these fires active for five days or longer.

Notable fires have been reported near popular tourist spots such as Lansdowne, Ranikhet, and the Valley of Flowers in Uttarakhand, as well as Shimla in Himachal Pradesh, Nilgiris in Tamil Nadu, Seshachalam forests in Andhra Pradesh, and Baliguda Forest Division in Odisha. In Uttarakhand, the fires have impacted at least 130 hectares of land and have been reported along various sections of the Char Dham pilgrimage route.

Central and southern regions of India have been particularly hard hit. According to the 2021 annual report from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, areas in Western Maharashtra, Southern Chhattisgarh, Telangana, and central Odisha are becoming “extremely prone” to forest fires. Furthermore, FSI data indicates that nearly half of India’s forest areas are susceptible to fire.