While efforts were still going on to bring the forest fire in
northeast China's Greater Hinggan Mountains under control, a new
fire was found on Saturday afternoon.
The blaze that started on Thursday has hit almost 540 hectares
in the Greater Hinggan Mountains, the country's largest forest
zone, despite the efforts of more than 2,600 people and 18
helicopters to extinguish it, according to the regional
fire-prevention headquarters.
A new fire was detected in the forest zone on Saturday
afternoon, according to satellite remote sensing data obtained by
Inner Mongolia regional meteorological bureau.
A 2,000-plus backup team are being sent to the forest zone in
the hope of bringing the fire under control at night while the
temperature drops and the wind lessens.
The blaze was spotted at about 11 a.m. on Thursday in an area of
virgin forest in the Oroqen Autonomous Banner of Inner Mongolia
Autonomous Region, bordering Heilongjiang Province, said a
spokesman with the fire-prevention headquarters.
"The fire started from a pasture. Dry weather and strong winds
made it spread quickly," said an official with the
headquarters.
(Xinhua News Agency September 23, 2007)