Hai Duong "winds up" forest fire prevention

High pressure

Forest rangers across the province have increased inspections in forest areas at high risk of fire during peak hours from 3-7pm every day. Photo: Tien Manh

On the evening of October 5, a large fire broke out in the forest near Cao An Phu Temple in An Sinh Ward (Kinh Mon). When the fire was discovered, the People's Committee of Kinh Mon Town mobilized about 700 people from the police, army, forest rangers, militia, etc. to quickly participate in fighting the fire. That night, the fire was brought under control and completely extinguished by the morning of October 6. About more than 5 hectares of special-use and protective forests managed by the Forest Management Board were damaged by the fire.

At around 1pm the same day, the fire broke out again. Kinh Mon town promptly mobilized about 200 people to participate in firefighting, so after just over half an hour the fire was completely extinguished. Although the cause of the fire is still being verified and clarified, this reality has put great pressure on forest fire prevention work during this year's dry season.

Hai Duong currently has more than 11,000 hectares of forest in Chi Linh City and Kinh Mon Town. Among these, there are many areas of natural forests that are depleted and are recovering after exploitation, mainly timber trees mixed with bamboo and rattan. In the dry season, when bamboo and rattan die, the branches and leaves fall, creating a source of flammable materials. The dry season also coincides with the time of harvesting pine resin, when exploited, a certain amount of resin will be spilled. This is a very sensitive and fast-igniting catalyst, if fire is used carelessly, the risk of fire is very high. More worryingly, recently, the whole Hai Duong province had more than 2,600 hectares of forest damaged by storm No. 3, causing trees to fall, branches and leaves to be scattered, posing a high risk of fire.

Kinh Mon promptly extinguished the forest fire that flared up again on the afternoon of October 6. Photo: Nguyen Viet

Since early October, due to the dry weather, the Provincial Forest Protection Department has raised the forest fire warning level to level IV (dangerous level). After the forest fire in Kinh Mon town, forest fire prevention and control work has been tightened. However, in addition to objective conditions due to weather and natural characteristics of the forest area, there are also some subjective factors that make forest fire prevention and control difficult. That is the lack of means and equipment for fire prevention and fighting. The sudden mobilization of local human resources for fire prevention and fighting is still limited, not meeting practical requirements. Some households that are contracted to forest are far away or are not local, so it is difficult to coordinate when an incident occurs...

24/7 on call

Leaders of the provincial agriculture and rural development sector inspected the scene of the forest fire in Kinh Mon town on October 6. Photo: HH

Despite facing many pressures and difficulties, the standing forces on forest fire prevention in the province always maintain a high level of vigilance and are ready to take on the task of preserving the forests.

Mr. Le Kha Quyet, a forest ranger of the Chi Linh Forest Protection Department, is assigned to manage forests in the areas of Van Duc, An Lac, and Tan Dan wards. The area is large, so the task is very difficult. To overcome this, Mr. Quyet proactively coordinated with households that received forest contracts and specialists in charge of the area of ​​the Forest Management Board. During these days, inspections and reviews are carried out daily and hourly. "Even in areas that have been patrolled, if we are not sure, we still go back to review. While checking, we also propagate to foresters to be vigilant and not to use fire in the forest," said Mr. Quyet.

Kinh Mon town has about 1,250 hectares of forest but it is scattered in 16 wards and communes. Meanwhile, the town's Forest Protection Department only has 6 officers and specialists. Although the force is small and the area is large, the members of the department always stick to the area and base to detect early and handle incidents quickly. Mr. Mao Viet Hai, Head of the Kinh Mon Town Forest Protection Department, said that after the recent forest fire, the members of the unit have raised their vigilance, not being subjective or negligent because even a small mistake will cause big consequences. The department is on duty 24/7, patrolling seriously, especially in areas prone to fires during peak hours from 3-7 pm every day.

Forest rangers coordinate with forest management units to handle fallen trees after storm No. 3 to reduce the risk of forest fires during the dry season.

Currently, the Forest Management Board is assigned to manage about 8,000 hectares of forest with more than 3,000 contracted households. The Board proactively develops forest fire prevention plans suitable to the actual situation of each locality and region. Mr. Ngo Quang Truong, Deputy Director of the Forest Management Board, informed that entering the peak season of forest fire prevention, the 5 management stations under the Board have all increased their on-duty. When the forest fire warning is level IV or higher, 100% of the staff will be mobilized. The Board always closely monitors, mobilizes, and propagates to the forest contracted households to be responsible, dedicated, and make every effort to protect the assigned forest area.

Not only the regular forces, but also the localities with forests, the task of forest fire prevention and fighting is also put on top in this dry season. According to the leader of the People's Committee of Cong Hoa Ward (Chi Linh), a locality with a large forest area, especially special-use forests associated with relics, since the beginning of October, the ward has activated forces to participate in forest fire prevention. In which, it is determined that propaganda to raise awareness and responsibility of people and contracted households is an effective solution to reduce the risk of forest fires in the dry season.

This dry season, Hai Duong continues to identify 10 key areas prone to forest fires. These are 6 key areas in Chi Linh City: Pure pine forest area in Con Son-Kiep Bac relic site, Chu Van An teacher temple area; pine and acacia forest area at Day Dieu mountain in Co Menh village, Bac An commune; nearly 400 hectares of pine and acacia forest area in Ngu Dai mountain, Hoang Tien ward; natural forest area bordering Bac An and Hoang Hoa Tham communes; forest bordering Binh Giang slag discharge dam, Pha Lai ward and special-use forest in Vuon Dao village, Hung Dao commune; bordering Van Duc and Thai Hoc wards.

Four high-risk areas in Kinh Mon are: A forest area of ​​more than 560 hectares belonging to the Cao An Phu temple relic in the communes and wards of An Phu, An Sinh, Pham Thai, Thuong Quan, and Hiep Hoa; a protective forest area planted with pine and acacia trees bordering the two communes of Le Ninh and Quang Thanh; a pure pine forest in Hiep Son ward; and a pine and acacia forest in Tan Dan ward.

PV

Source: https://baohaiduong.vn/hai-duong-len-giay-cot-phong-chong-chay-rung-395154.html