Itanagar: Helicopters of the Indian Air Force carried out an extensive four-day aerial operation to help control a forest fire in East Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh, officials said on Thursday.
During the operation, the aircraft conducted 54 sorties and released nearly 1.62 lakh litres of water over the affected forest areas and nearby habitations.
The firefighting mission began on March 8 after the district administration reported the spread of the blaze in the Mebo circle and sought aerial assistance to contain it.
Following the request, the state’s civil aviation department contacted the Defence Ministry and the Eastern Air Command, prompting the IAF to launch the operation. The effort initially involved aerial reconnaissance of the affected areas and trial water lifts before full-scale firefighting activities were undertaken.
According to a statement issued by state disaster management secretary Dani Sulu, helicopters collected water from the Siang River and dropped it over interior forest zones as well as areas close to settlements.
The operation concluded on Thursday and involved coordinated support from multiple agencies on the ground, including the district administration, the incident command unit at Mebo, the state civil aviation department, fire and emergency services, and personnel from the nearby Sigar Military Station.
Additional assistance was provided by firefighting teams from neighbouring districts, the State Disaster Response Force, personnel from Assam Fire and Emergency Services, as well as Aapda Mitras, community volunteers and local villagers led by gaon buras.
As a precautionary step, an extra team from the National Disaster Response Force was deployed on March 10 to assist if the situation escalated.
Officials said the fire damaged around 140 hectares of reserve forest and nearly 200 hectares of community forest, agricultural and horticultural land in the Sigar, Ralling and Mebo areas under the Mebo subdivision.
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No casualties or loss of livestock have been reported. Authorities added that the fire has now been largely brought under control due to the combined efforts of various agencies and heavy rainfall in East Siang on Wednesday night.
