IAF chopper joins ops to douse Uttarakhand forest fireplace

A day after Union Home Minister Amit Shah assured of offering helicopters and personnel to douse the raging forest fires in Uttarakhand, an MI-17 helicopter of the Indian Air Force (IAF) joined the fire-fighting operation in Narendra Nagar forest division in Tehri Garhwal district on Monday.
The IAF chopper managed to douse fireplace in some elements however the operation was stopped after two-and-a-half hours following hostile climate circumstances. Officials mentioned that the operation will resume on Tuesday morning.
Meanwhile, 85 new forest fireplace incidents had been reported throughout the state prior to now 24 hours and over 165 hectares of forest space was affected, the forest division mentioned.
Officials mentioned the MI-17 helicopter began operation at 10 am on Monday with two rounds of recce in fire-affected Adwani and Tamiyar areas in Fakot block with IAF crew members and forest workers.
The plane used a 5,000-litre capability ‘Bambi bucket’ to gather water from the Tehri Lake. The authorities claimed that the train managed the fireplace in a big space in Fakot block.