The massive fire on the hills behind Eklingarh cantonment was brought under control finally on Wednesday when a helicopter was used as an extinguisher on the instructions of Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje. This is the first experiment of its kind for putting off fire in the State. When Chief Minister learnt about the incident, she took immediate steps to call up the concerned officers and even instructed them to use helicopters. Army, District Administration and relief centres of the Forest department were finally able to put off the fire after constant efforts.

District Collector Rohit Gupta said that helicopter was called for as per the instructions received from Chief Minister Raje which played a major role in extinguishing the fire before it could reach the cantonment. No casualties have been reported so far.

On Tuesday when the Chief Minister got news about the fire, a meeting was called for in which concerned administration and emergency department officials were asked to take immediate steps to control the fast spreading fire. After getting instructions from the Chief Minister, the efforts for controlling fire by helicopter were brought into action by Army, Municipal corporation and fire brigade of Hindustan Zinc.

Two additional helicopters were also kept ready on the spot for immediate relief action. The relief teams, after constant efforts, could manage to control fire despite the winds blowing at a high velocity. The relief teams have been asked to stay alert for safety.