An IAF helicopter is sent to put out the Nilgiris wildfire

An IAF aircraft began spraying water in the inaccessible region on Saturday afternoon in an effort to put out the fire that has been out of control at Black Bridge Reserve Forest in Coonoor Forest Range for the last four days.

Water from the Bhavani River and the water sources in Coonoor were collected by the helicopter from the Air Force Station in Sulur, and it was sprayed onto the areas of the Black Bridge Reserve Forest where fires were raging. The helicopter has conducted forty missions so far, and on Sunday morning, the same task will begin once again.

The IAF sent the aircraft out in response to a plea from collector P Aruna and Nilgiris District Forest Officer (DFO) S Gowtham.
The presence of Chambrani trees, which are extremely ancient and the majority of which have withered and fallen, is the reason why the forest fire is becoming more severe every day, according to D Venkatesh, Field Director of MTR and Conservator of Forest Nilgiris. The terrain’s slope prevented us from fully controlling the fire, even though we sent four tractors full with water tanks from the adjacent tea plantation. The flames spread quickly upward.

In order to stop the fire from spreading further, more than 100 field-level employees from the forest divisions in the Nilgiris, Gudalur, and Coimbatore are working alongside firefighters and rescue services to remove the surrounding vegetation.

Trees like Chambrani, Eucalyptus, Pine, and Wattle have higher oil content. Since there are relatively more of these trees in the forest, a significant quantity of the dried wood of the Chambrani has collected on the forest floor. Consequently, the oil content increased the fire’s fuel, accelerating its spread. The fire is out of control despite our best efforts.”

“The tea estate’s neighboring reserve forest is where the fire originated. Venkatesh said, “Workers here had neglected to put out the fire that they started as part of maintenance operations. DFO Gowtham informed TNIE that while the IAF helicopter is being used, the fire is still uncontained and that efforts are being made to keep it under control.