Forest fires put out in China’s northeast
Forest fires put out in China’s northeast
9 April 2008
published by english.people.com.cn
China — Partly by luck, more than 3,900 forest police officers and workers on Wednesday put out five forest fires in China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
The fires had burnt for four days in the Greater Higgnan Mountains, affecting an area of about 23.8 square kilometers.
Snow on Tuesday night aided firefighters, said a source from the regional government.
The latest fires were reported after 130 firefighters had extinguished another blaze in the same area on Friday. That fire was started by villagers burning grassy areas to open up new fields.
A forest fire in Shangri-la, a Tibetan-inhabited prefecture in Yunnan Province in China’s southwest, that started late on Sunday has been brought under control.
The fire began at 5:15 p.m. near Luoji Township in Shangri-la County of the Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Deqen, with 187 hectares of forested land being hit by the fire.
More than 1,000 people were battling the blaze.
It has remained sunny around Shangri-la in the past two days, posing unfavorable conditions for firefighting. The cause is being investigated.
