The world is facing a major ecosystem crisis due to global warming and pollution. Considering the rate at which the temperatures are rising, one must think about the causes and origins of this extreme environmental shift. Today, countries like India, have cities ranked as some of the most polluted cities in the world. Apart from vehicular traffic and industrial wastes, one of the prime components of the entire problem is forest fires. Burning forests emit tons of harmful gases into the atmosphere. This disaster also leaves drastic aftereffects on the economy and society. Therefore, an efficient system should be designed to monitor the forest fires at the earliest. Highlighting the role of wireless sensor networks in the irregular terrains of forests and considering the technical challenges, it is important to identify, first, the best technology for communication among sensors, in such complex terrains. Second, the identification of an optimization algorithm for the deployment of sensors to achieve maximum coverage This work presents an analysis of state-of-the-art wireless sensor networks to identify a reliable communication technique. Further an optimization algorithm is proposed for maximum coverage with a minimum number of sensors. The algorithm outperforms the other state-of-the-art algorithms in simulation results.