Shillong, Feb 04: The IAF has launched its Helicopter to douse the major forest fire at Nagaland’s second highest peak, Mount Japfu, at an elevation of more than 3 Kms Above Mean Sea Level, in the Southern Angami region of Kohima district. MI 17 V5 Helicopters with its Fire Fighting Equipment has been tasked to carry out the Operations. This is the first time in the history of the country that such an operation has been undertaken by the Indian Air Force.
While, the State teams are also engaged to extinguish the fire, the MI 17 V5 Helicopter is being used to spray water to douse the fire that has devastated huge area with precious flora and fauna. The IAF has spotted two pockets of 1 KM radius which are raging with fire and are inaccessible by land. Till filing this report five sorties have been carried out by the helicopters of Indian Air Force.
Each sortie has lifted on an average 2.5 Tons of water from ground level from extremely difficult area and it has been dropped from a height of 3 Kms. The difficulty level is high with winds upto 45 Kms/hr. The operation is currently on to contain the blaze. This is about the highest point in Nagaland where the fire is raging. The operation has commenced since 6.00 AM on 4 Feb 2014. The request was received from the State Government on 03 February.(SP News)
