Hyderabad Governor rushes 2 C310 aircraft to douse fire

Hyderabad / Tirumala: Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan said on Wednesday that two specialised C310 aircraft would be deployed to douse the raging forest fire in the Seshachalam hills with chemical spray. The Army has been rushed to the spot, he said.

Mr Narasimhan said, “Two specially designed C310 aircraft which have expertise in chemical spraying to put off fires would arrive on Wednesday night.”

The Governor has alerted the chief of the Indian Air Force and the naval authorities. He directed the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams executive office M.G. Gopal to coordinate with them.
The Governor said he was personally monitoring the situation. “The fire will come under control soon,” he said.

Chief secretary P.K. Mohanty spoke to the Union Cabinet Secretary and secretaries of the defence and forest department for commencing immediate operations.

Mr Mohanty said, “The IAF is sending four helicopters and 100 Army personnel will be reaching the spot.

Officials of the National Disaster Management Authority and the union forests ministry will be arriving on Thursday.

N. Sambasiva Rao, director-general, state fire and emergency services, said, “The intensity of the fire has come down. Our technical team has found that the extent of fire spread  on the higher side.”

He said the fire can be put off with water, and 22 fire tenders from all over Rayalaseema have been deployed. TTD officials have secured the approval of Agama pundits for flights in the area.  There have been objections from them to allowing flights over the Tirumala temple.