BHUBANESWAR: With the wildfire season looming, the forest department has asked the regional chief conservators of forests (RCCFs) to prepare a structured plan of action with special focus on divisions that had recorded significant spike in such incidents last year.

PCCF and HoFF Suresh Pant told TNIE that preparedness for the ensuing forest fire season, which will commence from January, has already started and steps are being taken at the field-level to effectively deal with the situation. “We will hold a meeting of all forest circles in the state very soon to review their plans and preparedness,” Pant said.

Sources in the Forest department said approximately 4,600 hectare area was scorched during forest fire season 2025 between January and June, affecting multiple wildlife habitats as well as fringe areas. A total of 29,709 forest fire points, 20,839 inside forest boundaries and 8,870 outside forest boundaries, were detected in the last season compared to 22,868 forest fires including 17,014 inside forest boundary and 5,854 outside during the 2024 wildfire season.

While the forest department responded to about 99.95 per cent of these wildfires during the 2025 season, the highest in last four years, sources said the state forest headquarters has expressed concern over the significant variation in fire incidents reported in some of the divisions in the said season.

Sources said, at least 21 of the forest and wildlife divisions have recorded significant increase in wildfire incidents in 2025 compared to the previous seasons, with Boudh, Sunabeda wildlife, Bamra wildlife, Khariar and Phulbani, remaining the most critical. Boudh which had recorded 184 fire points in 2024, reported 1,166 fire points in 2025 at over six-fold increase from the previous year.

Similarly, Sunabeda wildlife division reported a 5.6 times increase, while Bamra wildlife and Khariar divisions also recorded over five-fold rise in forest fire in the season. Phulbani with 1,811 fire points also recorded a four and half fold jump over the previous year.

Accordingly, the RCCFs of Sambalpur, Baripada, Berhampur, Koraput, Bhawanipatna, Angul and Rourkela circles have been asked to hold consultation meeting with the divisional forest officers in their jurisdictions, and submit their plan of action.

The RCCFs have been also asked to furnish details on total percentage of increase and decrease in forest fire incidents in divisions within their jurisdictions, lapses for increase of fire incidents; if any, available resources to tackle forest fire in the ensuing wildfire season and infrastructure gap, best practices, community engagement initiatives, immediate measures and long-term management strategy among others information.