Dzükou forest fire brought under control

After five days of tireless effort, forest fire that ravaged parts of the Dzükou valley was brought under control on Sunday afternoon.
Earlier in the morning at around 3.30 a.m., thirty volunteers and 20 army personnel from 164 Naga TA Bn was sent to Dzükou valley from Viswema. After all observations from ground and aerial survey was made, the operation was called off.  Inputs from NRSC Hyderabad also corroborated with the ground observations.
As precautionary measures, a team from the Forest department was kept at valley till late evening. Sources said Southern Angami Youth Organization (SAYO) would closely monitor the situation in the valley for next couple days.
DFO Kohima Sidramappa, IFS during the coordination committee held at Viswema base camp urged upon SAPO and SAYO to continue their investigation to ascertain the cause of the fire and to identify the culprit(s) at the earliest.
Home commissioner, Neihu C. Thur informed that the Nagaland State Disaster Management Authority (NSDMA), Home department in co-ordination with District Disaster Management Authority (Kohima), and various line departments– Forest department, Police, H&FW, GIS (Planning Dept.), HG&CD, Territorial Army, Eastern Air Command IAF Ministry of Defence, SAPO, SAYO and local volunteers finally contained the forest fire at Dzukou valley Sunday afternoon.
Thur said more than 200 volunteers worked tirelessly day and night to fight the raging fire.
Indian Air Force choppers which made four sorties on Sunday, began operations early morning by 6.30 a.m. Later, a final aerial survey was also carried out before the operation was called off, Thur said.
He further said that the NSDMA, Home department was collaborating with all the agencies engaged during the operation to compile a technical input report on the forest fire. The report would then be submitted to the Government to devise preventive measures, he added.
Taking note of similar incidents, Thur said NSDMA, Home department along with the line departments would take up aggressive awareness programs at the community level and train the community first responders from amongst the village youth organisations as a mechanism to build a response institution in the community.
Meanwhile, NSDMA, Home department have acknowledged the tireless efforts of all involved during the operation including the press and media for the wide coverage.
Further, Forest, environment and ecology minister Dr. Nicky Kire and PCCF appreciated all those who were involved in fire management efforts.
It may be mentioned that the State government had requested the Eastern Air Command, Air Force to provide requisite assistance in terms of fire-fighting equipment by means of Helicopter effort.
Responding to the emergent situation, IAF positioned two Mi 17 V5 helicopters at Rangapahar. A total of six shuttles on March 14 and five shuttles on March 15 were undertaken by pilots of the two choppers– WG CDR Rawat and Vikram Singh. The fire has been doused and the heptrs returned to base on 15 Mar.
IAF used the “bambi buckets” to air-lift water from Dimapur’s Padumphukuri natural reservoir.
Similar operation was carried out at Dzükou valley in February 2014. It was for the first time in India, helicopter was used for fighting forest fires.