Dehradun, Jan. 14 -- The state disaster management department has sought assistance from the Indian Air Force (IAF) to douse an active forest fire raging for the past five days near the Valley of Flowers, a Unesco World Heritage site, in Chamoli district, officials said on Tuesday. The fire has erupted in the forests of Painkhanda under the Valley of Flowers range of the Nanda Devi National Park at an altitude of around 11,500 feet. Due to the difficult terrain and lack of access routes, the affected area cannot be reached on foot, rendering manual firefighting efforts ineffective, officials said. Divisional forest officer (DFO) Badrinath forest division, SK Dubey said repeated attempts to control the blaze from the ground have failed. "The forest where the fire is active is located close to 11,500 feet and is completely out of reach. It is not possible to douse the fire manually as a large number of personnel would be required, and the area is inaccessible," he said. Dubey added that the forest department wrote to the Chamoli district magistrate seeking assistance, following which the matter was taken up with the disaster management department for aerial intervention. "The disaster management team was scheduled to conduct an aerial survey of the affected area, but it could not be carried out due to adverse weather conditions," Dubey said. Confirming the development, Uttarakhand disaster management secretary Vinod Kumar Suman said they have requested IAF support. "We have sought assistance from the Indian Air Force to douse the forest fire," he said. Forest fires are generally reported from February to June. They usually peak in May and June. Uttarakhand's forest cover is 24,303.83 sqkm, which is 45.44% of the state's geographical area. More areas under forests with human habitations nearby, means more chances of forest fire. Given the diversity of forests in the state, forests here are prone to catch fire. In the hill state, 0.10% of total forest cover comes under the extremely fire-prone category, 12.92% under very highly fire-prone, 27.64% under highly fire-prone, 20.01% under moderately fire-prone and 39.33% under less fire-prone category. In 2024, 1,276 forest fire incidents were reported in the state that claimed 13 lives....