Efforts to extinguish the forest fire raging for the past five days in the Nanda Devi Wildlife Forest Division in Uttarakhand's Chamoli district were intensified on Wednesday, with the affected area surveyed by a helicopter, an official said. Sarvesh Dubey, Divisional Forest Officer of the Badrinath Forest Division, who is overseeing fire control operations, however, clarified that the option of using helicopters to drop water on the fire would not be adopted. Dubey said the helicopter was used only for aerial survey. Water bombing was not practical as the aircraft would have to travel to Tehri Lake to refill and would be able to drop only about 1,200 litres of water in an hour. He said a team of officers and employees of the forest division has reached the fire site in the Pulna and Bhyundar areas of the Pushpavati Valley under the Govindghat Forest Range, and efforts are being made to douse the flames. It may take at least two days to completely bring the fire under control, he .