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)
