Hyderabad: A massive forest fire that had raged unchecked in the Tirumala area of Andhra Pradesh was finally brought under control on Wednesday afternoon thanks to the efforts of the Army and the Indian Air Force.
Information was received on Wednesday from the state administration about the fire that had started in the Tirumala area and was inching closer towards the Tirupati Temple.
The Defence Crisis Management Group, an apex level body of Defence Forces for managing disaster situations, and the Chief of Integrated Defence Staff, swung into action for the firefighting operation, an official press release stated.
“Continuous aerial recces were launched by the Air Force to ascertain the extent of damage and spread of fire. Initially an AN-32 aircraft carried out the recce of the area to provide full overview of the problem. Another light helicopter based recce was launched within another time interval. A C-130 aircraft got airborne with its sophisticated gadgetry, recced the affected areas to assess the fire that could affect the holy Tirupati Temple,” the release stated.
Two MI-17 V5 helicopters with Bambi buckets with a capacity of 4,000 litres of water each, reached Renigunta Airport and commenced the task of fire fighting. The helicopters carried out four sorties and all forest fires burning near the Temple were extinguished.
Two Army columns were also moved from Chennai and reached Tirupati by Thursday evening.
“These are deployed to assist the state administration in dealing with the crisis. HQ Integrated Defence Staff is in touch with the authorities of the Tirupati Tirumala Devasthanam and is continuously monitoring the Armed Forces’ response. The helicopter operations are likely to continue till tomorrow,” the release stated.
Earlier, satellite images showed the fire spreading rapidly causing panic.
