GFMC: Forest Fires in the Peoples Republic of China
People’s Republic of China
Wildfires hit Northeast China
02 Oktober 2002
Wildfires caused by powerful lightning strikes in the tinder-dry forestbetween 27 July and 19 August 2002, Greater Hinggan Mountains, in NortheastChinas Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, was by far the worst blaze of itkind and have not been seen in the area in the past 53 years. To combating thiswildfire a total of 16,678 fire personnel rushed to the scene, supported byseven helicopters. The scale of this wildfire was the second largest forest firedisaster recorded in the Greater Hinggan mountains, Heilongjiang Province. Withmore than 20,000 ha the fire was smaller than the area burned in 1987. More than 20,000 ha forest were burned this time. Fortunately no casualties were reported.Some of the fires broke out in the depths of the virgin forest, far from watersources and in areas with few roads or places for helicopters to land.Firefighters had to travel on foot in the forest. Sometimes they needed to walkfor 24 hours to get to the sites where the fires broke out. With the jointefforts of local civilians and police, the fires’ advance was effectivelyblocked.
Recent Wildfires in The Greater Hinggan Mountains
The Greater Hinggan Mountains constitute the largest forest area in China,stretching from northwestern Heilongjiang Province to the east of the InnerMongolia Autonomous Region and have experienced several disastrous fires overthe past few decades.
On 6 May 1987, a forest fire broke out in the mountains, dubbed China’s”Green Treasure.” It lasted for a month and blazed through threeforest counties in a single night, burning more than 1 million hectares offorest and destroying almost 38 million cubic metres of timber in 26 days. About50,000 people were left homeless, 213 killed and 226 injured.
In 1998, lightning strikes caused a fire in the area. Over 5,000 forest policewere mobilized to fight against the blazes, which raged from 13 to 22 May 1998.The fire swept across 13,000 hectares of forest, causing losses of 14 millionyuan ($US 1.69 million).
In June 2000, at least five separate fires broke out in a remote forest area ofthe mountains. Thousands of local forestry workers and police took part in thefirefighting.
Blazing happens in the Greater Hinggan Mountains
Since 27 July 2002 seven separate fires, all caused by lightning strikes, hadoccurred in the mountain range’s virgin forests. Prolonged high temperatures hadfrustrated the efforts of the more than 2,000 firefighters battling blazes inthe country’s biggest forest, in the Greater Hinggan Mountains in NortheastChina. The fires were hard to control because they are in isolated areas a longway from roads and fire-fighting aircraft are temporarily out of service. TheState Forestry Administration dispatched four helicopters to the area to copewith the emergency.
On 8 August 2002, fires spread in the remote forests. There were eight fires inthe region due to lightning strikes, with only one under control. Artificial rainfall was used to try to extinguish the fires but theeffect was not been satisfactory due to unfavourable conditions. More than 3,600firefighters had been sent to the fires as of Thursday evening, and theHulunbuir government assigned additional 500 members of the forest police forceto the blazes.
On 10 August 2002, five of the 10 fires raging in China’s largest virgin forestin the Greater Hinggan Mountains were put out. With two of the remaining firesclose to being under control, only three wildfires were still burning out ofcontrol. More than 5,000 local people, including 1,500 forest rangers, hade beenmobilized for fire fighting. In addition, all necessary preparations had beenmade to try to induce artificial rain if and when conditions are right.
On 12 August 2002, five hundred firefighters from North China’s HeilongjiangProvince were sent to the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region to battle forestwildfires. All five remaining fires in northeastern parts of the region wereunder effective control.
One of the fires had been completely extinguished, the second was almost out,the sites of two more were being cleared to ensure that the wind did not restarta fire from smouldering fuels. China’s Premier Zhu Rongji sent greetings to the6,000 or so firefighters and asked them to make greater efforts to “achievecomplete victory.” However, weather forecasts from local meteorologicaldepartments said that there would be no substantial rainfall in the coming week.Under such weather conditions, it would be an arduous task for the firefightersto clear out the burnt areas, and new sparks could occur at any time.
On 13 August 2002 another wildfire had been completely extinguished in the northof North China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, with the number offirefighters totalling more than 8,000. All five remaining fires raging innorthern parts of the Greater Hinggan Mountains in Northeast China were undercontrol. Two of the fires had been extinguished, the sites of two more weretotally under control and were being cleared to ensure that the wind had nochance to rekindle the blaze from smouldering fuels.
On 19 August 2002 the fires calmed down because of the rainfall that occurred onthe fire sites on 18 August and helped to quench the wildfires. China’sfirefighters successfully prevented the spread of the wildfires into thecountry’s largest virgin forests in the Greater Hinggan Mountains. The fires sweeping the northern part of the Greater Hinggan Mountains hadbeen brought under control. Firefighters who had been working around the clockon the frontline were busy mopping up.
Wildfire Environment
The fires in the virgin forest reserve on lightning strikes triggered by thelong spell of hot, dry weather since early summer.
Since July 2002, the northern part of China had experienced hot and dry weather.In the region the rainfall up to fire occurrence was just 40 per cent of theaverage. The long spell of hot and dry weather triggered the devastatingaftermath of the lightning. Under the hot and dry weather conditions, the firesburned heavy and continued.
Since the trees in the region have high moisture content, most of the fires wereburning underground in the humus layer and only smoke rather than flames couldbe seen, which made it more difficult to monitor.
Prolonged high temperatures of 30° to 40°C in this region also slowed downefforts to put out the blazes. It took some time for firefighters to control thefires, as the outbreaks were far from water sources, with few roads or placesfor helicopters to land.
Forfurther Information and visual impressions please see the GFMCPhoto Archive on China.
IFFN/GFMC contributionsubmitted by
Shu Lifu and Tian Xiaorui
Chinese Academy of Forestry
P.O.Box 8
Beijing 100091
People’s Republic of China
Fax: ++86-10-6288-9555
Tel: ++86-10-6288-9515
e-mail: fire@prot.forestry.ac.cn
