After four days of round-the-clock efforts, a forest fire at
Xirite Banner (County), north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, had been
enclosed and brought under control by early Monday morning, local
fire fighters said.
A fire suspected to be caused by lightning strike last Thursday
in the nearby Sangenhe Forest Farm between Mianduhe and Urqihan
towns entered Xirite at the evening of last Friday.
More than 3,600 people, including 1,500-strong armed policemen
and 2,100 forest workers, joined the fire fighting.
Difficult access, dry and windy weather, poor telecom
connections will make it hard to prevent the fire from resurging at
the forest area in Xirite, fire fighters said.
(Xinhua News Agency May 29, 2006)
