Pauri Garhwal, Uttarakhand, India - May 6, 2024.

Indian Air Force helicopters and Fire officials come together to the rescue after a colossal forest fire breaks out in northern India's Uttarakhand.

The fire took a severe turn in forest areas of Pauri Garhwal district on May 6.

Videos from the location show thick smoke from an intense forest engulfed with fire. It is seen that Mi17 V5 helicopters undertake Bambi Bucket ops to douse the fire.

According to the reports, on receiving information about fire in the forests around Devalgarh, apart from the Forest Department team, the Kotwali Srinagar Police and Fire Department team reached the spot. Here the fire was extinguished with a fire brigade vehicle under the leadership of outpost in-charge Ajay Kumar.

The IAF's MI-17 helicopters, which were scheduled to begin water-dropping operations at 6:30 am, remained grounded until visibility improved.

Vinay Shankar Pandey, Commissioner of Garhwal, said that the dense smoke caused by the forest fire hindered the helicopter's ability to take off. The swift action by the Indian Air Force has enabled fire fighting crews on the ground to penetrate and douse fires more efficiently.

Over 4500 litres of water was used to douse the fires in close coordination with the Uttarakhand government.