Bhotekoshi's water was brought from a helicopter and poured, but the fire did not go out
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The fire in the forest under Gaurishankar Conservation Area of Sindhupalchok has not been brought under control even after the passage of four days. The forest in the upper area of Bhotekoshi-2 Liping, which is connected to China, has been on fire since Friday.
On Friday, while welding on the tunnel side of the Liping Khola hydropower project under construction in Liping Khola, a fire broke out due to a short circuit.
Rangbusa village in the border area is at risk due to the fire. 20 families from Thami and Tamang communities live in Rangbusa. Sindhupalchok Police Information Officer DSP Umashankar Yadav said that efforts were made to prevent the fire from entering the village by making a fire line till Monday. "A fire line has been drawn to protect Rangbusa village, the fire is still raging in the middle of the forest," he said. Rita Thami of Rangbusa said that even though a fire line was built to prevent the settlement, the locals are still in fear.
On Sunday, an attempt was made to put out the fire by carrying water from a Cymric Air helicopter. DSP Yadav said that after the fire was not extinguished, the helicopter returned on Monday after the water of Bhotekoshi river was pumped 54 times at the rate of 800 liters. He also informed that 33 people including police, army and armed have been deployed to extinguish the fire.
According to the ward president of Bhotekoshi-2, Kumar Shrestha, the 16.26 megawatt Liping Khola hydropower project has been procured by the helicopter municipality to cover the expenses.
Helicopter use has cost more than 20 lakh rupees in one day including fuel. Chief District Officer of Sindhupalchok Kiran Thapa said that the fire could not be extinguished due to lack of resources.
He informed that he asked for help from China's Nyalm County to put out the fire. "At the cost of the project, we tried to extinguish it by dropping water from a helicopter, a fire line has been built to protect the settlement, we have neither the budget nor any resources to extinguish the entire fire," he said.
Similarly, the fire that started on Saturday in the Himalayan forest of Gourishankar rural municipality-7 of Dolakha, which is within the conservation area, has not been brought under control.
At this time, the snow-capped rolling glacier is shrouded in wildfire smoke. In this region, which receives snowfall from mid-November, there has been no snowfall even after the third week of January. During the snowy season, fires rarely occur in the upper forest.
Tulsi Prasad Dahal, Head of Gauri Shankar Conservation Area, said that fires have been raging in this area for three years. "It's already happened twice this year," he said.
Wild animals such as red pandas and wild animals that came down to escape the cold were hit by the fire, Dahal said. He speculates that the fire may have spread to Dolakha due to human inattention.
"There is no high-tension line of the electricity project in that area, we have asked the police to investigate the cause of the fire," Dahal said, "Due to the geographical difficulty, the fire could not be extinguished."
