Fires in Viet Nam
17 April 2002
GFMC observations
GFMC staff flying in the region on 15 April 2002 have observed the smoke-haze traveling from the South of Viet Nam
towards the coast of Thailand. So far the smoke-haze has not yet caused any impact on regional or local maritime and
air traffic.
The GFMC is monitoring the situation and investigating the possible involvement of experts to conduct a situation
assessment for possible international assistance.
Latest news from VietnamNews 17 April 2002:
U Minh Ha fire-fighters must contain blaze says PM Khai
CA MAU – Prime Minister Phan Van Khai on Monday urged ministries and local authorities to take urgent measures to curb the blaze engulfing U Minh Ha cajeput forest
in the southernmost province of Ca Mau.
"All forces and equipment must be mobilised to isolate the fire," Khai told an emergency
meeting with local officials, after he and other senior officials inspected the destruction
from a helicopter.
More than 4,000 soldiers, policemen and local residents have been sent to the site to
combat the blaze, which broke out on Friday afternoon and razed 3,000ha of 12-year-old
cajeput trees in U Minh Ha.
"The blaze is threatening another 10,000ha including 3,000ha of Vo Doi protective
forests," said Vo Thanh Binh, chairman of Ca Mau People’s Committee, during a meeting with PM Khai in Ca Mau township.
According to Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development Le Huy Ngo, the firemen
have been clearing trees to create fire-break corridors from 30m to 50m wide to stop the
fire from spreading, and are using large excavators to dig trenches.
Khai asked the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the provincial
authorities to map out another zoning scheme for U Minh Ha forests to ensure they are
better protected in future.
"U Minh Ha should be divided into small sections of less than 2,000ha each, and a
network of canals or ditches should be built," he said.
The PM also asked relevant authorities to create buffer zones for use in preventing and
fighting fires. He said the top priority was to raise local people’s awareness of the need
to protect the forests.
Khai also asked forest rangers to be on the alert, saying the rising incidence of bushfireo
utbreaks signalled a dereliction of duty.
He also ordered Ca Mau People’s Committee to rehabilitate infrastructure including
roads, health clinics and schools in the area affected by the fire.
This would help quickly return people’s lives to normal once the fire was brought under
control, he said.
Source: VNS
Last Satellite Image
Forest fires and land-use fires in Viet Nam, including the fire disaster zone in U Minh Thuong National Park, acquired by the Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensor on 16 April 2002.
Thick smoke
cloud can be seen over Viet Nam
Source:
http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/products_rr.html
Image
search support at:
http://www.uni-freiburg.de/fireglobe/current/MODIS.htm
Precipitation
forecast for Viet Nam for 18 April 2002, 07:00 local time.
(Source: ECPC
Fire Weather Index Forecast)
Precipitation
forecast for Viet Nam for 13-20 April 2002
(Source: ECPC
Fire Weather Index Forecast)
(Fire
Weather Index (FWI) forecast for Viet Nam for 18 April 2002, 19:00 local time.
(Source: ECPC
Fire Weather Index Forecast)
Fire
Weather Index (FWI) forecast for Viet Nam for 13-20 April 2002.
(Source: ECPC
Fire Weather Index Forecast)
Fire
Weather Index (FWI) forecast for Viet Nam for 30 March to 27 April 2002.
(Source: ECPC
Fire Weather Index Forecast)
Duff
moisture content (typical for peat-swamp layers) provided
by the ASEAN Fire
Weather Information System
(Source: ASFWIS)
Some visual impressions from the fire sites:
Inferno: Fire blaze in U Minh Thuong National Park. Source: VNS Photo Hoang Tri Dung
Damage control: A canal is dug in an attempt to curb the spread of a wildfire that is devastating the U Minh Thuong National Park. Source: VNA/VNS Photo by Trang Duong
For the
a local situation assessment published by Viet Nam News: See the story “All
hands on deck as forest fire rages on” (6 April 2002):
http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/2002-04/05/Stories/03.htm
For a
local weather forecast predicting the continuation of the dry spell, see:
http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/2002-04/03/Stories/11.htm
For GFMC reports on fires in Viet Nam see:
A Fire Problem Analysis (IFFN No. 7 - August 1992)
Fire Management Assessment Tram Chim National Park, Dong Thap Province,
Viet Nam
(IFFN No. 26 - January 2002)
See
photographs that includes effects of fire in Melaleuca forests of Vietnam:
GFMC
Photo Archive Viet Nam
First Report by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
Ref: OCHA/GVA 2002/0081
OCHA Situation Report No. 1
Vietnam - Forest Fire
9 April 2002
This report is based on information provided by the UNDP Office in Vietnam, the Disaster Management Unit and media reports.
Event and Impact
1.
A forest fire, that started on 23 March in the 8,000‑hectare U Minh Thuong
National Park in the southern province of Ca Mau, is now raging out of control
and threatens to destroy thousands of hectares of forest.Temperatures
in the heart of the forest have soared to 50 degrees Celsius and reached
thousands of degrees in the 0.5 to 1.5 metre‑thick smouldering peat and
coal layers. The combined high temperatures and strong winds have occasionally
produced large fireballs, endangering the remaining forest and hampering efforts
to extinguish the fire. A prolonged drought has severely limited the
availability of fresh water, which is hindering fire‑fighting efforts. U
Minh Thuong Forest is ranked as the world's second richest and largest mangrove
forest after the Amazon rain forest in Brasil.
2.
The fire is believed to have destroyed over 4,000 hectares of virgin forest.
This will affect the lives of thousands of poor families living in the area, and
will also have significant ecological impacts, including loss of biodiversity
and habitat to local species.
National Response
3.
Thousands of policemen, military, forest rangers and local residents have joined
forces to combat the fire. Fire fighters have isolated approximately 5,000
hectares of virgin and newly planted forest by digging a 6 metre wide, 3
metre deep and 10 metre long canal, along which more than 100 pumps
are running 24 hours a day to provide water for the fire fighting effort. A 10
metre‑wide fire prevention belt is being cleared. So far, digging ditches
around the burning areas has been the only way to halt the spread of the fire.
4.
The police and armed forces were mobilised on Tuesday, 2 April to assist the
fire fighters, and military units are said to be at the forefront of the effort.
5.
The provincial authorities have mobilised all tractors and pumps owned by
residents in neighbouring areas.
General Information
6.
No request for international assistance has been received by OCHA to date.
7.
OCHA is in close contact with the office of the United Nations Resident
Coordinator in Hanoi and will revert with further information.
8.
This situation report, together with further information on ongoing emergencies,
is also available on the OCHA Internet Website at http://www.reliefweb.int
Last report by the Environment News Service
(for photographs: see http://ens-news.com/ens/apr2002/2002L-04-09-02.html)
Fiery Inferno Engulfs Vietnamese National Park
Hanoi,
9 April 2002 - Thousands of policemen, military personnel, forest rangers and
local residents have joined forces to fight a fire eating its way through U Minh
Thuong National Park in the southernmost province of Kien Giang.
The
forest fire, which officials say started on March 23, has been raging out of
control. A report of Vietnam's official news agency VNA today says firefighters
have contained the blaze but not before it destroyed an estimated 4,200 hectares
of peat swamp forest, wiping out about half the national park.
Temperatures
in the fire's core area have hit 50 degrees Celsius and reached thousands of
degrees in the deep layers of burning peat and coal beneath the forest floor.
Combined
soaring temperatures and strong winds have occasionally produced large
fireballs, endangering the remaining forest and hampering efforts to extinguish
the fire.
The
smoke is rising from the U Minh Thuong blaze to join the smoke from many fires
that currently dot the landscape across much of Southeast Asia, filling the
skies with a thick blanket of smoke over much of the region.
This
is normally the dry season, and in addition, a drought that has lasted since the
El Nino weather pattern of 1998 has limited the availability of fresh water,
making firefighting a tough job.
So
far, digging ditches around the burning areas has been the only way to halt the
spread of the fire.
Firefighters
have isolated about 5,000 hectares of
virgin and newly planted forest by digging a six metre wide, three metre deep
and 10 metre long canal, along which more than 100 pumps are running day and
night to provide water for the fire fighting effort. The provincial authorities
have mobilized all tractors and pumps owned by residents in neighbouring areas
to draw water from existing canals criss-crossing the area.
The
national park is part of a large area of seasonally flooded Melaleuca swamp
forest north and west of Ca Mau town near the shores of the Gulf of Thailand.
The peat swamp forests of U Minh comprise a mosaic of forest fragments separated
by rice fields, settlements and canals. The northernmost forest fragment is U
Minh Thuong which normally floods during the rainy season and dries out in the
dry season
Dr.
Julian Thompson, lecturer in physical geography at the University College London
who did research in U Minh Thuong in 2001, says the inner forest or Strictly
Protected Zone of about 8,130 hectares "has been impacted by human
activities such as canal construction and logging in addition to frequent fires.
The impact of these factors has been the erosion of much of the peat layer
around the forest margins."
Describing
the area for the World Conservation Union, Le Dien Duc wrote, "In the past,
this region was famous for its dense Melaleuca forests. However, during the war
years the region suffered serious damage from bombing and the extensive use of
napalm and toxic chemicals, and since then, large areas have been cleared for
timber and agricultural land or destroyed by forest fires. Only some 63,000
hectares of forest remain, and much of this, such as the U Minh Thuong forest,
is in very poor condition."
The cause of the current fire is unknown. Officials say an investigation will take place after the fire is out.