An Indian Air Force (IAF) helicopter on Saturday collected water from the Bhimtal Lake in Nainital to help control a nearby forest fire that had reached the High Court Colony in the town. The Indian Army and the Indian Air Force were called to help control the forest fire near Uttarakhand's Nainital after it continued to rage for the last 36 hours. In the video, a Mi-17 helicopter can be seen collecting water in a bucket-like utensil. In the last 24 hours, 31 new incidents of forest fire were reported from various parts of the state, destroying 33.34 hectares of forest land.
Earlier, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami asked the officials to remain on alert and take measures to prevent the fires by coordinating with all departments. The fire that broke out in the forest near Nainital district headquarters took a horrific form, posing a threat to the residents of High Court Colony located in the Pines area. It also affected the traffic movement in the area.
Nainital Divisional Forest Officer Chandrashekhar Joshi said, "We have deployed 40 Manora Range personnel and two forest rangers to extinguish the fire." According to the daily bulletin issued by the Forest Department here, 26 incidents of forest fire occurred in the state's Kumaon region in the last 24 hours, while five incidents occurred in Garhwal region, where 33.34 hectares of forest area was affected.
Rudraprayag's Divisional Forest Officer Abhimanyu in a press release said that the action was taken by a team formed to prevent forest fire. Sheep herder Naresh Bhatt of Tadiyaal village of Jakholi was caught from the spot while setting a fire in the forest, he said. During interrogation, Bhatt said he started the fire to grow new grass for grazing his sheep.
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