hThe fighters of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), the Indian Army, officers of the Indian Air Force, state authorities as well as scores of volunteers and local residents have been striving to douse the raging forest fire in Nagaland's Dzukou valley and sources have revealed that the efforts would be finally pay off.
According to The Hindu, the 10-day old wildfire is under control but the firefighting operations would continue. It stated that no active fire was noticed and smoke emerging at three locations were quickly doused during the day.
"The situation is totally under control but operations will continue," said Kohima Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Rajkumar M.
"Both ground and air teams are constantly monitoring the situation as we don't want to take any chance," he added.
The IAF choppers will continue transporting and dropping essential supplies for the ground teams at the base camp, conducting aerial surveys and undertaking Bambi bucket operations, the DFO said.
What happened?
According to media reports, the fire broke out along a trekking route in Dzokou valley which is situated at an altitude of 2,452 metres above sea level on December 29 on the Nagaland side and started spreading across the border to Manipur on December 31.
The wildfire has destroyed much of the forest, seasonal flowers, flora and fauna and affected the rich biodiversity of the valley.
Also Read: Forest Fire In Nagaland's Dzukou Valley Increasing Its Magnitude, Spreading To Manipur Hills: NDRF