View of the charred hillsides in Dzukou Valley on January 9. (Photo Courtesy: Veravo Sapu)
• No fresh fires and smoke visible
• DRF teams and IAF choppers to be withdrawn
• Damage assessment report expected by end of this week
Morung Express News
Kohima/Dimapur | January 11
The Dzükou forest fire which had been raging since December 29, 2020 has been extinguished. The Nagaland Government informed that there were no reports of visible fresh fire or smoke on Monday.
A DIPR report informed that a co-ordination cum de-briefing meeting was held on January 11 to review the firefighting operation. The meeting was chaired by Nagaland Home Commissioner, Abhijit Sinha, IAS, and attended by the Commandant, NDRF, Rajesh Thakur; Deputy Commissioner, Kohima, Mohammed Ali Shihab A; SP Kohima, Manoj Kumar; DFO Kohima, Raj Kumar; and ADC Kohima, Lithrongla Tongpi Rutsa.
The meeting decided that instructions would be sought for withdrawal of all the Indian Air Force (IAF) helicopters deployed for firefighting purposes. IAF spokesperson Wing Commander Ratnakar Singh informed that four IAF Mi-17V5 helicopters equipped with Bambi buckets sprayed huge quantities of water over the course of the last 2 weeks. A large number of volunteers and locals also helped the NDRF, IAF, the army, police personnel and the Forest Department to douse the fire.
The five NDRF teams deployed at the base camp will also be withdrawn with effect from January 12. Meanwhile, it was decided that about 40 personnel from the DEF Kohima, the Forest Department and SAYO will remain stationed at the base camp to keep watch and monitor the status for a few days. SDO Kohima, Daniel Angami from the Dzükou base camp reported that withdrawal of the ground operation team was conducted at the base camp on Monday.
The IAF has airlifted the fire fighting equipments of the NDRF and SDRF stationed at Dzükou base camp to the Jakhama military helipad. The fire fighting equipments included NDRF tents, fire fighting suits, batteries and state forces’ equipments including two generators, NSDMA lighting tower and batteries.
Meanwhile, Kohima DFO, Rajkumar M informed The Morung Express that detailed damage assessment will be carried out by the Forest Department. The assessment based on ground survey will be released alongside the Forest Survey of India’s (FSI) survey estimate based on satellite imagery.
The report is expected to be out by the end of this week.
