Coimbatore forest fire: Blaze continues for 6th consecutive day, Air Force called in to douse fire

COIMBATORE: The Tamil Nadu forest department brought a chopper belonging to Indian Air Force (IAF) from Sulur airbase in Coimbatore district to put out the fire at Boluvampatti block-II reserve forest at Madukkarai forest range of Coimbatore forest division, on Sunday morning.
The IAF's chopper with bambi bucket facility had taken water from Malampuzha reservoir in Kerala and poured it in the fire-affected forest area thrice, from 7am to 8am.

Coimbatore district collector Kranthi Kumar Pati visited the Perumalkovilpathi village and inspected the firefighting work from a private resort.
Meanwhile, the forest department deployed more than 200 frontline staff at the forest to douse the fire for the sixth consecutive day on Sunday. The fire and rescue services also sent 100 personnel to assist the forest department to extinguish the fire.
District forest officers N Jayaraj from Coimbatore forest division and N Venkatesh Prabhu from Erode forest division have been supervising the fire extinguishing work.
Supriya Sahu, additional chief secretary, the environment, climate change and forests, Government of Tamil Nadu is going to inspect the fire-affected areas in the afternoon.