A MI 17 helicopter from No. 06 Squadron was deployed since this morning (21st March 2016) to assist in retarding the spread of a forest fire which erupted in the wetland areas of Agarapathana, Bopathalawa forest reserve in Hatton.

A huge area of land has been destroyed in fires which are spreading recently in the mountainous regions of Hatton and Kandy. A fire broke out in the area of Sundaragama Waththa in Dayagama was reported to AFHQ yesterday evening. With the direction of the Commander of the Air Force, a specialist team of fire fighters inclusive of two officers and five airmen were deployed immediately by the Commanding Officer of SLAF Stn Diyatalawa to assess the condition of the fire. In the meantime 30 troops of SL Army and 15 Policemen from SL Police Dayagama have deployed to assess and to take fire control measures. However, due to non-availability of communication coverage and difficulty of reaching the location at night, the SLAF team deployed on ground couldn’t suppress the situation.

Hence, Mi 17 Helicopter Captained by the Commanding Officer of No 6 Squadron Gp Capt SDGM Silva, Co-Pilot Sqn Ldr NDID Jayasekara, Flight Engineer Sqn Ldr HB Fernando and a Load master, an Air gunner and 03 x technicians were airborne from SLAF Base Anuradhapura at 0610 hrs. They positioned the helicopter at Nuwaraeliya Race course to fix Fire Fighting apparatus to carry water from Kande Ela Reservoir and doused the fire in general area of Sandirigama watta, Dayagama.

MI 17 helicopter combated the fire by flying total of 7.45 Hrs with 22 bambi bucket operation sorties carrying minimum of 55,000 litres of water till evening.