Wen warns against spread, resurgence of NE China forest fire

BEIJING—Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has called for more efforts to prevent the spread and resurgence of fires that ravaged forests in northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province.
Wen said on Saturday that concerned departments should “seize the opportunity and concentrate forces” to put out the fire and prevent its spread. Vice Premier Hui Liangyu also urged “forceful measures” against the fire, demanding firefighters to clean up and keep a close watch on the site to prevent resurgence of the fire.
Naked flames had been extinguished as of Sunday morning after people spending a whole night fighting the fire, said sources with the local government. A total of 4,400 people, including the firefighters and the armed police, were mobilized to fight the fire, using 99 planes, 389 vehicles and 3,850 firefighting equipments, said the local government.
The fire ravaged an area of around 65 square kilometers but did not reach major forest zones. Local meteorological staffs created artificial rains to help quench the flames, according to the local government. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
The blazes were spotted last Friday in the forest areas between Heihe City and Yichun City, bordering the Lesser Hinggan Mountains. Severe drought hit the province this summer and the average temperature this autumn was higher than usual, posing a high fire risk to forests in the region, according to the provincial meteorological bureau.
The Lesser Hinggan Mountains and the Greater Hinggan Mountains form the country’s largest forest zone. The forest fire raging in northeast China’s Greater Hinggan Mountains, the country’s largest forest zone, since Thursday morning has been “brought under control,” fire fighters said on Sunday.
More than 4,000 people, including armed police and forest workers, launched a “general attack” at 6:00 p.m. on Saturday on the blaze in an area of virgin forest in the Oroqen Autonomous Banner of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, bordering Heilongjiang Province, said a spokesman with the fire-fighting headquarters.
“The fire had been basically brought under control 12 hours later by 6 a.m. on Sunday,” the spokesman said. Another 1,000 people had arrived at the scene Sunday morning to reinforce the fire fighting team, he said.
“Currently, the scene of fire is blanketed in heavy smoke accompanied by small, sporadic blazes, and more than 5,000 people are clearing the area to extinguish all fires completely,” he said. Eighteen helicopters had also been used to put out the fire during the past several days. Initial investigations show that the fire was triggered by lightening strikes and it had spread to 16 square km in the country’s largest forest zone.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has ordered mobilizing more forces to put out a forest fire in the Greater Hinggan Mountains in northeast China “as soon as possible”. The blaze was spotted at about 11 a.m. on Thursday in an area of virgin forest in the Oroqen Autonomous Banner of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, bordering Heilongjiang Province.
A total of 2,630 people and 18 helicopters are currently at the site combating the fire, while another 2,040 people are heading to the area as reinforcing force, according to officials with the national forest fire prevention headquarters.—Xinhua