An Indian Airforce (IAF) Helicopter was deployed to extinguish raging forest fires in Nainital District, Uttarakhand as stated by Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on April 27, 2024. The situation deteoriated a day before the incident occurred, when the flames reached the High Court colony in Pines area.
The MI-17 helicopter in an operation named Bambi Bucket, collected water from the Bhimtal Lake and then poured water over the burning forests in various areas of the district including Pines, Bhumiadhar, Jyolikot, Narayan Nagar, Bhawali Ramgarh and Mukteshwar.
Chief Minister Dhami assured that all efforts were being made to control the fires and that it will be done soon. He also mentioned that he would be meeting with forest officials in Haldwani later that day to assess the situation. In a related incident, three individuals have been arrested in Rudraprayag on April 26, 2024, for attempting to set fire to the forests.
CM Dhami also took an aerial survey of the massive Nainital Forest Fire and surrounding forest areas. “I am going to conduct a meeting in Haldwani today. We have conducted a meeting in Dehradun also regarding this we will try to control the fire as soon as possible,” Dhami told a media agency.
According to officials, 31 incidents of forest fires were reported across the state on the same day, resulting in the destruction of 33.4 hectares of forest land. The fire in Nainital have taken a severe turn, threatened the residents of the High Court colony and affected the traffic movement in the area.
In addition to the forest departmental staff, personnel from the Indian Army were sent to douse the fire and were deeply involved in the rescue efforts. Anil Joshi, a resident of the area (Pines Area) and Assistant Registrar of the Uttarakhand High Court stated that the fire had engulfed an old vacant house near the Pines on April 26, 2024, but did not cause any damage to the High Court Colony, although it came dangerously close to the buildings.
As a precautionary measure, the district administration has prohibited boating in Nainital lake. The division forest officer Chandrashekhar Joshi said they have deployed 40 Manora Range personnel and two forest rangers to extinguish the fire. Since November 1, 2023, the state of Uttarakhand has witnessed and reported 575 incidents of forest fire affecting 689.89 hectares of forest area and resulting in a cost of more than Rs 14 Lakhs to the state.
