Alwar: A massive fire broke out in the forests of Rajasthan's Sariska Tiger Reserve in Alwar district, a forest official informed on Tuesday. According to reports, the fire which erupted on Monday evening has now spread over 10 sqkm and the cause of the blaze is yet to be ascertained.
Forest officials have also said that around 150-200 people, including the forest staff, are engaged in controlling the fire. Two helicopters of the Indian Air Force (IAF) have also been called in to douse the blaze.
Tiger movement in the area has been affected by the fire and the villagers residing in the periphery of the fire-affected area have been asked to move to safety.
The two IAF choppers are fetching water from Siliserh Lake, which is around 43 kms from the forest and dropping over the fire.
Meanwhile, the IAF said that at the behest of Alwar Dist admin to help control spread of fire over large areas of Sariska Tiger Reserve, IAF has deployed two Mi 17 V5 helicopters to undertake Bambi Bucket operations.
Watch IAF Bambi Bucket Ops
Fire Fighting Operations are underway since early morning today.
"We are focusing on areas where there could be a danger to wildlife from fire and in areas where it has spread," news agency ANI quoted Alwar's ADM Sunita Pankaj as saying.
"As the fire was massive, efforts of locals weren't enough. So we intimated the fire department in Jaipur. They deployed 2 choppers from Delhi to douse the fire. Areas having high tiger and rural people's population are our priority," Pankaj said.
"We were informed about the fire 2 days ago. We took the help of locals to control the fire. 9 sq. km of area is up in the flames as of now. We are trying to restrict the fire so that it does not engulf the valley. Damage will be ascertained once fire is doused," Alwar DFO Sudarshan Sharma told reporters.
It is being assumed that fire in the forest reserve is equivalent to the size of around 1,800 football fields and there are over 20 tigers in the Sariska reserve.