FSI now sending forest fire alerts obtained through advanced

The Forest Survey of India (FSI) has started sending forest fire alerts, obtained through a state-of-the-art sensor, which has a better resolution compared to the older one, the Rajya Sabha was informed today.

Environment Minister Harsh Vardhan, in a written reply to a question, said since 2004, the Dehradun-based FSI had been sending SMS and e-mail alerts to the state forest departments of forest fire locations detected by the MODIS sensor, onboard the Aqua and Terra satellites of NASA.

"From 2017 onwards, FSI has also started sending alerts obtained from the SNPP-VIIRS sensor, which has a better resolution (375mtr x 375mtr), compared to the MODIS sensor (1km x 1km)," he said.

Around 35,888 MODIS fire alerts were sent to various states in 2017, in comparison to the 24,817 sent in 2016, added Vardhan.

The Forest Protection Division was implementing the Intensification of Forest Management Scheme (IFMS), under which financial assistance is provided to the states and union territories to protect the forests from various threats, including forest fires, he said.

The minister was replying to a question on the government's plan to check the increasing global warming caused by forest fires.

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