Nainital forest fire: Blaze reaches High Court Colony, Army called in
Summary
Boating in Naini Lake has been banned by the district administration given the blaze.
The forest fire in Uttarakhand’s Nainital got more severe on Friday night as flames reached the High Court Colony, prompting the administration to seek help from the Indian Army, reports said.
On Saturday, an Indian Air Force (IAF) Mi-17 helicopter was seen taking water from Bhimtal Lake in Nainital. The forest department called the IAF and Army for help controlling the fire in the region, ANI reported.
#WATCH | Nainital Fire | IAF Mi-17 helicopter takes water from Bhimtal Lake in Nainital as the Forest Department calls in the Indian Air Force and Indian Army for help in controlling the fire in Nainital which has been going on for more than 36 hours and burnt hectares of forest. pic.twitter.com/L6HnLbPU3W
— ANI UP/Uttarakhand (@ANINewsUP) April 27, 2024
In just 24 hours, 31 incidents of forest fires were reported from various parts of the northern state, destroying as many as 33.34 hectares of forest land.
On Friday, three people were arrested in Rudraprayag while trying to set fire to the forests.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has directed officials to remain on alert and take all possible measures to prevent the fires by coordinating with the respective departments.
The fire, which broke out in the forest near Nainital district headquarters, took a horrific turn and posed a threat to the residents of High Court Colony located in the Pines area. Further, it has affected the traffic movement in the area.
With a forest fire building up in vicinity of an Air Force Station near Nainital, #IAF activated its aerial fire fighting capability, employing a Mi-17 V5 helicopter for undertaking Bambi Bucket Ops. pic.twitter.com/2wLbTjW5m8
— Indian Air Force (@IAF_MCC) April 27, 2024
Anil Joshi, a resident of the area and assistant registrar of the High Court, told PTI that the fire engulfed an old and vacant house near the Pines.
Though it has not caused any damage to the High Court Colony, it has reached “dangerously close to the buildings,” Joshi stated.
Looking at the possibility of the fire reaching the sensitive areas located near the Pines, officials are making all possible efforts to extinguish the fire as soon as possible.
Given the blaze, the district administration has banned boating in Naini Lake.
“We’ve deployed 40 Manora Range personnel and two forest rangers to extinguish the fire,” Nainital Divisional Forest Officer Chandrashekhar Joshi said.
As per the daily bulletin of the Forest Department, 26 incidents of forest fires were reported in the Kumaon region in the last 24 hours, while five incidents took place in the Garhwal region, where 33.34 hectares of forest area was affected by it.
It added that 575 incidents of forest fires have been reported in Uttarakhand since November 1 last year, affecting 689.89 hectares of forest area and costing more than ₹14 lakh to the state’s exchequer.
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