Bandipur forest fire doused with help of water-bombing IAF choppers

Bengaluru: Fighting tirelessly for over five days, the Karnataka Forest Department with help from Indian Air Force (IAF) helicopters has finally succeeded in dousing the raging forest fire in Bandipur Tiger Reserve on Tuesday, February 26.

With Indian Air Force helicopters dumping gallons of water and firefighters toiling hard, the raging forest fire that burnt thousands of acres in Bandipur Tiger reserve has been brought under total control, the forest department said.

“The fire is under total control. It is not even on the Karnataka-Tamil Nadu border” principal chief conservator of forest C Jayaram (wildlife) told.

The effort of the forest department, IAF and several field volunteers were also validated by satellite data from the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) in its damage assessment report.

It is gathered that Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy will be conducting an aerial survey of the damage to the forest on Wednesday.

Thousands of acres of land in the Bandipur tiger reserve were gutted in a fire over the last four days, creating fear about the safety of wild animals, forest officials said on Sunday. Foresters, along with hundreds of volunteers, made a vain bid to douse the fire that had spread to dangerous proportions, the officials said.