Turbulence because of terrain, controllability of chopper with 3,500 liters of water in a specialized bucket dangling from a 23-ft cable and pinpointing target for spraying it have affected the operation to douse a wildfire on the Manipur-Nagaland border.
The fire at the Dzukou Valley, a popular trekking and adventure destination, started a week ago. Within 24 hours from December 31, the IAF engaged four choppers for the fire-fighting mission following a request from the Nagaland government.
But taming the fire has literally turned out to be an uphill task despite several sorties, 12 of them on Monday, though water sprayed from the sky in Bambi Buckets and seven teams of National Disaster Response Force on the ground have doused the flames in more than 60% of the area.
Read more on this story at The Hindu.com
