Southern province closes forests for fire prevention
Southern province closes forests for fire prevention
5 March 2007
published by www.thanhniennews.com
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam — The government of the Mekong Delta province of An Giang has issued an urgent decision to seal off forests in an effort to protect more than 26,000 ha of forests from fires due to hot, dry weather.
The forests are closed to all visitors for a period of two months, starting from March 1.
The province has seen unusual climate changes in recent days with the temperature ranging between 24-35ºC and humidity measured at 12 percent, prompting a fire warning at Level 5, the highest in the forest warning system.
Local forest fire fighters are closely monitoring 19 communes which contain more than 9,000 ha of forest at the highest risk of fire.