YICHUN, Heilongjiang, April 30 (Xinhua) -- Chinese
authorities have deployed reinforcement fire-fighters to keep wind-whipped fire
away from a virgin forest in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang.
The fire started in Yinanhe Forest Farm on Monday afternoon and quickly spread northeast to Yichun City. It has killed one firefighter and injured four others.
Fire fighters try to put out forest fire in Xunke County's Dapingtai township, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, April 30, 2009. About 1,000 forest police were airlifted to the fire front in Heilongjiang, increasing the total number of firefighters to around 7,530. Twelve planes have been sent to help fight the fire Thursday.(Xinhua/Wang Jianwei)Photo Gallery
Xu Zhaojun, secretary of Yichun city committee of the
Communist Party of China, said 1,000 forest police were airlifted to the fire
front Thursday, increasing the total number of firefighters to around 7,530.
Twelve planes have been sent to help fight the fire.
The fire crews would work Thursday night to bring the
fire in Yichun under control, Xu said. But he admitted that wind gusts of around
40 km per hour and dry weather have hindered efforts.
Yichun is home to more than 30 percent of the world's
total Korean pine virgin forests and also a renowned granite stone-forest
national park.
Local authorities banned felling of Korean pine in
2004 after its acreage fell sharply to 50,000 hectares from 1.2 million hectares
56 years ago.
"The Korean pine forest is a treasure to both our
timber workers and the country. We will keep the fire away from it," said Liu
Shucong, 21, a firefighter.
The fire has affected more than 20,000 local
residents and ravaged 20,000 hectares of woods by Thursday, according to the
fire-fighting headquarters.
People living up to 35 km from the fire front were
being evacuated, although the exact number being forced to move was not
immediately known.
The cause of the fire remains unknown.
Fire fighters try to put out forest fire in Xunke County's Dapingtai township, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, April 30, 2009. About 1,000 forest police were airlifted to the fire front in Heilongjiang, increasing the total number of firefighters to around 7,530. Twelve planes have been sent to help fight the fire Thursday.(Xinhua/Wang Jianwei)
Photo Gallery
Weather forecasters said later Thursday that there
would be wind gusts of up to 61 km per hour and no rainfall the following day.
The fire prompted the provincial authorities to issue
Thursday a "red alert", the highest-level warning, for forest fire risks in
northern Yichun and neighboring Heihe and an orange alert for Mudanjiang, Jixi
and Qitaihe.
Chinese Vice Premier Hui Liangyu on Tuesday urged
local authorities to keep alert to any fire outbreak and step up prevention
efforts, as high temperatures and dry weather in some regions had made forests
more vulnerable to fire risks.
Meanwhile, forest fire that began Wednesday afternoon
at a forest farm in Greater Hinggan Mountain of northern China's Inner Mongolia
Autonomous Region was put out Thursday morning with no casualties reported.
About 2,000 people are fighting a forest fire at
Zhaijiazhuang Village in Jiaocheng County, northern China's Shanxi Province. The
fire was reported Tuesday afternoon.
Local government officials said neither the
temperatures and nor the wind speeds at the site were high, and the fire danger
had moderated.
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