Uttarakhand: An IAF helicopter is dispatched to put out an Almora forest fire

In Uttrakhand, while attempting to contain a forest fire in the Binsar wildlife sanctuary area, four employees of the Uttarakhand forest department perished and four others were injured.

Dehradun: According to officials, an Indian Air Force (IAF) Mi17 helicopter was used to put out the forest fires that broke out in Almora, Uttarakhand, on Thursday afternoon.

IAF Mi17 V5 helicopters leapt into action today taking off from Sarsawa at first light to undertake Bambi Bucket ops to extinguish the blazing fires in Almora district.
This comes after the State administration’s request for dousing the uncontrollable fire at the Binsar Wildlife… pic.twitter.com/P3DMD8nuOP

— Indian Air Force (@IAF_MCC) June 14, 2024

Officials said that on Thursday, the state administration asked the Indian Air Force (IAF) for assistance in putting out the out-of-control fire at the Binsar Wildlife Sanctuary near Almora.

The IAF helicopter was called into action on Friday to gather water from Bhimtal using a Bambi bucket in order to put out the forest fire in Almora’s Binsar Wildlife Sanctuary, according to Deepak Singh, the divisional forest officer for Almora. “They made two sorties… A single sortie takes 1.5 hours to complete, taking into account the distance between Bhimtal and the Almora forest fire location. At 4:30 p.m., the operation will resume.

“We’ve asked the IAF for additional helicopters. Both the State Disaster Response Force and the National Disaster Response Force have arrived at the location. He continued, “The issue is under control.

On Thursday, while attempting to contain a forest fire in the Binsar wildlife sanctuary area, four employees of the Uttarakhand forest department lost their lives and four others were injured.

According to government officials, the deaths brought the state’s total number of forest fire deaths this year to 10, highlighting the severity of an issue made worse by the extreme heat and lack of rain.

Dewan Ram (35), a daily wage laborer for the forest department, Karan Arya (21), a fire watcher, Trilok Mehta (56), the forest beat officer of Binsar Range, and Puran Singh (52), an employee of the Prantiya Rakshak Dal (PRD), were the four people who were identified as deceased.

Pushkar Singh Dhami, the chief minister of Uttarakhand, expressed regret for the disaster, promised to compensate the families of the four deceased with Rs. 10 lakh, and directed that the injured be airlifted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Rishikesh for medical attention.

Nishant Verma, the state’s nodal officer for forest fires and additional principal chief conservator of forests, claims that 1,220 forest fires were registered in the state between November 1 and June 13 of last year.