Mumbai, March 10. Major forest fires at multiple locations at Goa, including fire at Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary, Morlem and Cortalim, were reported by civil authorities. On a request by the District Administration, the Indian Navy deployed its assets to contain the fire. A Dornier was flown on March 7 to survey the area and localise the fire. Fire fighting equipment were then flown in from Naval Units based at Kochi and Mumbai and multiple sorties for fighting fire were undertaken by Seaking aircraft of the Navy.
The helicopters flew multiple missions on March 8 and sprayed appx 17 tons of water at Mhadei, Cortalim and Morlem, in 26 runs made over affected areas. The complex operation required picking up water from a nearby water body and releasing it over affected area in difficult terrain.
The Special gear LAALDE(Large Area Aerial Liquid Dispersion Equipment) used by the helicopters for this operation was mobilised by the Navy from Mumbai and Kochi on March 6, immediately on receiving information from the State Forest Department. Navy helicopters have persisted in these operations since early hours of March 7 in coordination with state authorities and forest officials. Three sorties by Seaking helicopters were also undertaken on March 9. The efforts were conjoined by IAF deploying its Mi-17 helicopters as well for survey as well as fire fighting.
