Rangbusa village is at risk due to the fierce fire that has been raging for the past two days in the Liping forest area above Bhotekoshi-2 Liping Bazar, the border area of Nepal and China. There are 20 families of Thami and Tamang communities living in the remote Rangbusa village of Tatopani. As the risk of wildfires in the village has increased, the locals have requested to save the area.
We have not been able to sleep for two days due to the fear of fire entering the village, the forest has become a terrible cloud of smoke. It seems that the fire is burning just a few meters away from the village," said Rita Thami of Rangbusa.
The fire that started from the tunnel side of the Liping Khola hydropower project under construction in Liping Khola has not been brought under control till late on Monday . According to Kumar Shrestha, President of Bhotekoshi-2, the structure outside the tunnel of the 16.26 MW hydropower project suddenly caught fire on Friday due to a short circuit in the wire.
On Sunday, the rural municipality made an attempt to extinguish the fire by bringing water from the Bhotekoshi river to bear the cost of the hydroelectric project. The local Sarju Lama said that even with this effort, the fire in the forest towards the village did not stop. "Compared to before, even though the fire has come under control, the storm is increasing the fire," he said.
The helicopter poured water 54 times throughout the day on Sunday. But the locals have complained that the fire could not be brought under control because it can carry only 800 liters of water at a time. Since Friday, the efforts of the security personnel and locals to put out the fire in the remote Bheg Liping upper Bheg failed due to the storm.
Chief District Officer Kiran Thapa said that the fire could not be extinguished as it burned in the forest and Bhirkshetra of Gaurishankar conservation area. He said that since it was not possible to bring the fire under control by humans, they started trying to put it out using the helicopter of Simric Air.
"An attempt is being made to save Rangbusa village by carrying water from Bhotekoshi, but it has not been fully controlled," he said. Armed forces, army and Nepal police have been deployed to extinguish the fire. He said that the fire could be extinguished as only 800 liters of water can be stored in one bucket of the helicopter.
