IAF tries to douse U'khand fire

Blaze extinguished in 75% of affected area, say authorities

Fighting poor visibility due to thick plumes of smoke, three Mi 17 choppers of the IAF on Sunday dumped loads of water on forest fires raging for days in Nainital and Pauri districts in Uttarakhand.

As authorities claimed that the situation is gradually getting under control, latest satellite imagery of the forest fires showed that the blaze has been extinguished in more than 75% of the affected area in the hill state.

The water sprinkling operations commenced on Sunday as part of efforts to douse the fire that has killed 7 people and destroyed 2,269 hectares of forested land. The fire has also spread to sparsely populated remote hill areas.

IAF’s Mi 17-V5 choppers have individual capacity to carry 3,000 litres of water, but the flights are too few compared to the need. Also, flying is hampered due to poor visibility amid the smoke.

One chopper collected water from Bhimtal lake and made sorties over Almakhan, Kilbari and Nalena areas of Nainital district. But another IAF chopper engaged for the same purpose in Pauri could not take off due to low visibility.

“With three IAF choppers sprinkling thousands of litres of water over affected areas in Nainital and Pauri districts and over 10,000 personnel of NDRF, SDRF, PRD, forest guards and homeguards engaged in firefighting operations on the ground, we can say the situation is very much under control,” said Additional Chief Secretary S Ramaswamy.

“We have been informed that fresh images from satellite have shown that the effective area under fire in Uttarakhand has come down to 110-115 locations from the earlier about 427. It is expected that these figures will be brought down to 50-60 in the next few days by the combined forces fighting to douse the jungle fire,” said NDRF Director General O P Singh. The NDRF men are also working to save animals that could have been trapped in the blazing fire.

“We have taken the forest fire seriously. About 6,000 people have been deployed for the firefighting effort and Rs 5 crore has been allotted,” said Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar.

Both the Prime Minister’s Office and the Home Ministry are reviewing the situation while the director general of forest under the Environment Ministry has been sent to Uttarakhand to guide the local workforce.

In April, fire broke out in more than 1,200 locations and more than 1,900 hectares of forest was gutted. There was another major fire four years ago, when more than 2,000 hectares of jungle was set ablaze. “These kind of forest fires break out during the summer season,” Javadekar said. 

Brunt of nature

* Poor visibility hampers IAF, NDRF work
* Fires have claimed 7 lives, destroyed 3,000 acres of forest cover.
* It has now spread to sparsely populated remote hill areas
* Active fire spots are also being identified with the help of satellite data
* Each chopper has a capacity to sprinkle 3,000 litres of water in one sortie