With the advent of the dry season in India news reports about forest fires will be a common feature in the media. Forest fires are the scourge of forests and wildlife worldwide. Reports from the Ministry of Environment and Forests state that forest fires affect about 37 million hectares annually. A recent survey conducted by The Forest Survey of India found that fires affect around 55 per cent of the forest area annually in our country. Incidences of forest fires, especially in southern India, are recurrent for we mostly have deciduous forests.