Four days on, efforts to douse wildfire continue in Coimbatore

COIMBATORE: The fire at Boluvampatti block II reserve forest of Madukkarai range continued to rage on the fourth day on Friday. Apart from 150 frontline staff from the Coimbatore forest division and neighbouring forest divisions, 20 senior officials are camping in the area to douse the fire.
The fire ravaged the steep rocky terrain, destroying dry grass and shrubs, conservator of forests S Ramasubramanian said. "The teams are working hard to put out the fire, but it is not easy to reach the rocky terrain," he said.
The teams tried to contain the fire in major areas, but it has spread across the terrain, district forest officer N Jayaraj said. "We are trying to douse the fire in a key spot, where a large number of bamboos are present," he told TOI.
The forest department has urged the state government to seek the assistance of the Indian Air Force (IAF) to douse the fire in inaccessible areas, the official said. "A farm in the foothills of the reserve forest has adequate water, which can be used to extinguish the fire.
IAF helicopters fitted with 'Bambi' Buckets can take water from the farm. We brought two fire tenders to the terrain and the firemen sprayed water to prevent the fire from spreading," said Jayaraj.
The department aims to extinguish the fire by Saturday morning, Ramasubramanian said. "If we fail, the government would contact IAF Sulur station for choppers to extinguish the fire."