Official: heavy China snow adds to forest fire risk in spring
Official: heavy Chinasnow adds to forest fire risk in spring
1 February 2008
published by http://news.xinhuanet.com
China — China’s State Forestry Administration (SFA) warnedon Friday that trees killed by the current winter frost in the southern regionscould lead to fire disasters when the weather gets warmer.
Cao Qingyao, an administration spokesperson, said dead treesand broken branches would significantly increase the amount of inflammablematerials in the forests.
The northern region, however, would suffer from less rain inthe first two months of the year, and dry plants were also vulnerable to flames.
The administration has started to prepare in advance for thespring fire-prevention campaign and has ordered local authorities to chart outsufficient responsive measures, Cao said.
Last year, the country recorded 8,089 forest fire thatdamaged 23,462 hectares of forest land.
This year, China plans to increase its forested area by 5.2million hectares through tree-planting efforts.
