K Narendran currently works at the Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. He has been intrigued by the phenomenon of forest fires and is keen on looking at the historical and ecological aspects of forest fires. He is involved in mapping forest fires in the Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary. His major interests lie in ecological applications of remote sensing and geographical information systems, and would like to work on questions of ecological relevance at the landscape level.

Forest fires have occurred across the globe at various times in the past. The sources of these fires have been both natural and anthropogenic. Forest areas in North America, South and S E Asia, Australia, Africa and Amazonia are prone to the incidence of fires regularly. Forest fires occur almost on an annual basis in the deciduous forests of Southern India. However the extent of these fires depends on various factors such as the frequency of human disturbances and the climate of the region. These fires are thought to have impacts on the ecology of plants and animals in the region.

Of late, forest fires have captured the attention of people worldwide. Over the last few years there have been devastating fires in the forests of South East Asia, Amazon and the Rocky Mountains of the USA. In many parts of the world fires are common, frequent and in some cases devastating. Such fires have not only led to threats to the biological diversity of these forests, but have also caused large-scale human suffering in neighbouring lands, due to pollution of the environment. This article traces the origins of forest fires, their history and their occurrence in different parts of the globe, more so in south Indian forests, and the ecological consequences of such fires.

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Address for Correspondence
S S Verma 
Department of Physics, 
Sant Longowal Institute of 
Engineering and Technology Longowal, District Sangrur 
Punjab 148 106, India.