Sri Lanka Air Force Firefighters responded to a call for assistance from the Police Emergency Response Unit, seeking immediate firefighting assistance to extinguish the fire which broke out in an inbound cargo warehouse at a container terminal in the Colombo port, during the early hours of 24th May 2013 (today).

The SLAF Station Colombo dispatched a fire vehicle with water bowser and a crew of ten members swiftly to the location and managed to douse the fire. They were part of the response team which is reported to have included a total of seven fire tenders, two Bronco Sky lift and two incident control vehicle which were from the Colombo Fire Brigade, the Port Authority Fire Brigade, Dockyard Fire Section and the SLAF.

Due to the prompt action taken by SLAF and sister fire services, the fire was prevented from spreading to the surrounding buildings and thereby minimized the damage caused. The overall operation coordinated and assisted by the SLAF Chief Fire Officer Group Captain PMCP Dias. The SLAF fire crew was led by Sqn Ldr KIPM Patabandige the Officer in Charge of Fire Section SLAF Station Colombo and comprised the following members SGT Ilangakoon IMJC, CPL Sampath LAN, CPL Chameera WVG, CPL Bandara NSR, LAC Wanniarachchi and LAC Wickramasinghe WM.