IAF drops 1.62L litres of water to douse forest fire in East Siang dist

Itanagar: The Indian Air Force (IAF) pressed helicopters into service to contain a forest fire in the Mebo subdivision in Arunachal Pradesh’s East Siang district.Over 1.62 lakh litres of water were dropped over four days, disaster management SEOC assistant director S Tayang said on Thursday. Operations began on March 8 following a request from East Siang deputy commissioner after the fire spread across 140 hectares of reserve forest, 200 hectares of community land and agricultural areas in Sigar, Ralling and Mebo.No human or livestock losses were reported. A recce preceded 54 shuttles lifting water from the Siang river, targeting interior forests and settlements near the Sigar military station.The official said efforts by the ground team, comprising fire and emergency services teams, pooled in from neighbouring districts — including a team from the Assam fire and emergency services, the SDRF and govt departments, Aapda Mitras and villagers led by gaon buras — helped contain the spread of the fire to settlement areas.The incident marks Arunachal’s second IAF fire-dousing call in 2026, after Mepsoro in Feb, the official said.Tayang praised the IAF for its dedicated effort to contain the fire.On Thursday, the IAF helicopter services and other agencies were de-requisitioned and firefighting operations were suspended due to heavy rain that lashed East Siang on Wednesday night.The official, however, said continuous monitoring is being done through drones and ground teams and authorities are on alert to prevent similar incidents.