Indian Air Force helicopters carrying out multiple sorties to drop 66,000 litres of water in the Pasighat region in Arunachal Pradesh echo beyond words the challenges of forest fire management in the border state and other vulnerable states in the northeast region. Rising incidences of forest fire in the region bring to the forefront the pace of implementation of the national and state action plans on forest fire. Strengthening the emergency response system is critical to reducing environmental damage and ecological losses and saving humans and wildlife, but preventive measures remaining the primary focus of forest fire management are crucial to overcoming the hurdles posed by difficult terrain and huge geographical areas. Both the national and the state action plans have mapped the challenges and spelt out recommendations, and translating those into action is essential. The Mitigation Scheme for Forest Fire Risk Management, approved by the central government for implementation in 144 high-priority districts across 19 states, including Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram, Manipur and Meghalaya, has ensured availability of greater financial assistance to the states for strengthening their preventative measures and emergency fire response mechanism. The action plans have highlighted that forest fires are triggered by a combination of natural and manmade causes such as high temperatures, prolonged dry spells, lightning, shifting cultivation, deliberate burning or accidental and unintentional fire. Accumulated dry fuel loads, erratic rainfall and rising temperatures in dry, deciduous and hill forests of the region. The Arunachal Pradesh State Action Plan on Forest Fire for the five-year period from 2023 to 2028 cautions that even though forest fire incidences are fewer in Arunachal Pradesh compared to other states in the region, still one forest fire incident may nullify all efforts of conservation and plantations done in the past several years. The outbreak of a major forest fire in the Pasighat region requiring an aerial dousing operation illustrates the scale of vulnerability of forest fire incidence in the northeast region, ignoring which could be catastrophic. It points out that forest fires in Arunachal Pradesh are mostly restricted to the southern regions of the state, which are adjacent to Nagaland and Myanmar and most affected due to the widespread shifting cultivation practices. Apart from the huge geographical area and rugged terrains, the state action plan lists another key challenge: While the state forest department is the apex body in the state which looks after the forest fire management task, the community forests are not in direct control of the forest department. Most of the areas prone to forest fire fall in the community forests, but there is a lack of proper coordination between the forest department and community organisations for the management of forest fires for lack of a proper institutional mechanism. Besides, lack of adequate budget allocation for fire management adds to the challenges. Discouraging shifting cultivation is one of the key actions listed in the action plan, but it is easier said than done, as it is integral to their traditional cultural practices for food security. The document highlights that shifting cultivation is the biggest source of forest fire in the state, and even most of the fire points detected by the Forest Survey of India are basically burnings for shifting cultivation. It insists that along with discouraging shifting cultivation, there is a need to push for scientific management of Jhum as well and dissemination of better practices whereby the Jhum fire is not converted into a forest fire and seeks to achieve this by raising awareness and increasing livelihood options for tribal communities. Encouraging fruit-based agroforestry on traditional jhum land can help farmers dependent on shifting cultivation to leverage their land for augmenting household income. Growing pineapple, banana, jackfruit, and citrus fruits can increase the jhum cycle for farmers, as these perennial fruit crops reduce the requirement of shifting to a new site for cultivation. Aligning such intervention with flagship schemes like the Mission Organic Value Chain Development for the North Eastern Region, which aims to turn the region into an organic hub, can play a crucial role in addressing the challenge of reducing the area under shifting cultivation to better manage forest fires. Facilitating market linkage, creation of cold storage along the supply chain and ensuring remunerative prices to jhum cultivators growing fruit-crop-based agroforestry is essential to boost confidence among those growing organic crops under the central government-assisted schemes. The tribal communities of the region have also developed their own traditional knowledge of fire management to separate jhum fire and adjacent forest areas. Helping the communities living on the forest fringe upgrade traditional knowledge with scientific findings on climate change-induced forest fire vulnerabilities can go a long way in increasing participation of the communities in forest fire prevention initiatives. The spread of digital technology in the region has also brought new opportunities for alternative livelihood avenues, such as eco-tourism and sustainable agriculture, which can be leveraged for reducing dependence on shifting cultivation and preventing forest fire risks.