IAF, Army called in to quell Uttarakhand wildfire

The Indian Air Force deployed two Mi-17 helicopters and the Army assisted forest officials to douse a forest fire threatening an air force station and a residential settlement in Nainital, Uttarakhand, on Saturday.

The helicopters collected water using Bambi buckets from Bhimtal lake and conducted over a dozen sorties, successfully extinguishing the fire near the Lariyakanta air force station by afternoon, said Nainital sub-divisional magistrate Pramod Kumar.

Around 70-80 Army personnel also aided the firefighting efforts alongside forest department staff, police, and firefighters, according to divisional forest officer Chandra Shekhar Joshi.

Read more: Nainital forest fire: CM holds review meet, forest officers' leaves cancelled

Chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami conducted an aerial survey of the affected areas and chaired a review meeting in Haldwani. He ordered a ban on leaves for forest officials until the fires are fully controlled.

“We have taken forest fire as a challenge,” Dhami said. “I have instructed concerned officials to take all possible steps to control the incidents.”

Rising temperatures and a dry spell are the main causes of the spike in forest fires, said Nishant Verma, the state nodal officer for forest fires. Some fires are also attributed to burning agricultural waste and anti-social elements.

Public relations officer (PRO), defence, Dehradun, Lieutenant Colonel Manish Srivastava, said: “Our one column was mobilised from Chaubatia in Almora after requisition to douse the forest fire in Nainital.”

Uttarakhand has experienced 108 forest fires in the past 72 hours, damaging over 142 hectares of forest land, primarily in the Kumaon region. Since November, 598 incidents have razed 724 hectares, causing a loss of ₹14.02 lakh to the state, according to information from the state government.

Read more: India reported over 75,000 forest fires in April; Odisha worst hit

Data from gleaned separately from Nasa’s Fire Information for Resource Management System (FIRMS) by HT showed that the fires are part of a larger trend in Uttarakhand, with the past three years showing a particularly alarming surge in April forest fires. This year, according to FIRMS data, the number of fires detected between April 1 and 27 is 127% higher than the average number of blazes seen between 2012 and 2021.

Saturday’s fire also posed a threat to the residents of High Court Colony located in the Pines area, slightly away from the air force station.

Anil Joshi, a resident of the area and assistant registrar of the high court, told news agency PTI that an old, vacant house located near The Pines was gutted. “It has not caused any damage to High Court Colony but it reached dangerously close to the buildings. Efforts are being made to control the fire since [Friday] evening.”

The forest department has registered 146 cases of man-made fires this year, naming 17 individuals. Three arrests were made in Rudraprayag district on Friday for alleged deliberate ignition.

Smoke from the wildfires has caused hazy skies, poor air quality, and traffic disruptions in parts of Nainital. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecasts isolated thunderstorms and gusty winds for the next three days in Uttarakhand.

Forest fires have become an annual occurrence in the state since its formation in 2000, typically lasting from mid-February to mid-June. Over 54,800 hectares of forest have been damaged by fires in Uttarakhand during this period.

(With inputs from Abhishek Jha in New Delhi)