By Thursday afternoon, all the fires in northeast China's Heilongjiang
Province had been under control, and only one fire at the
Shuanghe forest in Nenjiang County still has visible blaze.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has urged the local government to take
effective measures to put out the fires as soon as possible and
contain their spread. Vice Premier Hui Liangyu also have ordered to
find out the situation of the fires and extinguish them against
time.
A?total of five fires have devoured nearly 10,000 hectares of
forests since Sept. 29 in Nenjiang County of the province. Nearly
2,000 fire fighters, including more than 1,000 forest guards and
officers, and five helicopters have been dispatched to extinguish
the fires.
The State Forestry Administration and the provincial forest fire
control headquarters are conducting on-the-spot investigations to
look for peacebreakers and the cause of the fires. Six suspects
have been detained so far.
Upon entering autumn, forests in northeast China are highly
possible to catch fire with relatively high temperature and strong
wind. The State Council has asked to realize the current severe
situation and strengthen watching and preventing measures.
The State Forestry Administration has also held an audio-visual
meeting on Thursday, urging forest fire control headquarters at all
levels to take effective measures to prevent major forest fires, so
as to protect the security of the people and their property.
Fire accidents cost China a total of 1.55 billion yuan (US$190
million) annually in the past five years, Guo Tienan, director of
Fire Protection Bureau of Ministry of Public Security said
recently.
(Xinhua News Agency October 7, 2005)
