The MI-17 helicopter used a Bambi Bucket to collect water from Bhimtal lake and then poured it over the burning forests in various areas of the district, including Pines, Bhumiadhar, Jyolikot, Narayan Nagar, Bhawali, Ramgarh, and Mukteshwar. Chief Minister Dhami assured that all efforts were being made to control the fires and that it would be done soon. He also mentioned that he would be meeting with forest officials in Haldwani later that day to assess the situation.
In a related incident, three individuals were arrested in Rudraprayag on Friday for attempting to set fire to forests. According to officials, 31 new incidents of forest fire were reported across the state on Friday, resulting in the destruction of 33.34 hectares of forest land.
The fire near Nainital took a severe turn on Friday, threatening the residents of high court Colony and affecting traffic movement in the area. In addition to forest department staff, Army personnel are also involved in the efforts to control the fire. Anil Joshi, a resident of the Pines area and assistant registrar of the Uttarakhand high court, stated that the fire had engulfed an old, vacant house near The Pines on Friday but did not cause any damage to the High Court Colony, although it came dangerously close to the buildings.
As a precautionary measure, the district administration has prohibited boating in Naini lake. Nainital divisional forest officer Chandrashekhar Joshi said that they have deployed 40 Manora Range personnel and two forest rangers to extinguish the fire.
Since November 1 last year, Uttarakhand has reported a total of 575 incidents of forest fire, affecting 689.89 hectares of forest area and resulting in a cost of more than Rs 14 lakh to the state.
