Raising awareness and responsibility of cadres, party members and people in forest fire prevention and fighting

With the motto "Prevention is the key, timely fire fighting", in order to raise awareness and responsibility of all levels, sectors, organizations, enterprises, village communities and people on forest fire prevention and fighting (PCCCR), in recent times, functional sectors and localities have promoted propaganda work on PCCCR, with diverse and rich forms of propaganda, suitable to the customs and habits of each locality and ethnic group. Units also focus on innovating methods to bring practical, concise, easy-to-understand, easy-to-remember and suitable content for each age group and each subject.

People of Kim Lu commune (Na Ri) are educated about vegetation treatment and fire prevention and control.

In particular, the People's Committees of communes, wards and towns carry out propaganda and provide guidance on basic knowledge and skills on PCCCR through forms such as electronic information pages, social networks Facebook, Zalo groups of villages and groups; broadcasting on the commune's loudspeaker system... The content of propaganda and recommendations is selected to be focused, concise, easy to remember and easy to understand.

As the core force in the work of protection and fire prevention and control, in the first quarter of 2025, units under the Provincial Forest Protection Department organized 107 propaganda and dissemination sessions on law and basic knowledge on fire prevention and control with 4,049 participants; at the same time, coordinated with Bac Kan Radio and Television Station and Bac Kan Newspaper to publish many news and articles reflecting on forestry work and fire prevention and control.

The Forest Protection Department (the standing agency of the provincial PCCCR) regularly updates information on forest fire forecast levels at the website: kiemlamvung1.org.vn ; directs the Forest Protection Departments of districts and cities to advise local authorities at the grassroots level to provide forest fire forecast information to villages, groups, and forest owners; continuously provide information and warnings on forest fire forecast levels every day when the forecast is at level III or higher.

Along with disseminating and popularizing laws and basic knowledge about fire prevention and fighting to the people, according to the recent direction of the Provincial People's Committee and the Department of Agriculture and Environment, units and localities also need to pay attention to disseminating regulations on handling violations of fire prevention and fighting, cases that have caused forest fires and have been handled; at the same time , promptly commend and reward individuals and organizations that do well in fire prevention and fighting, actively participate in fire prevention and fighting so that people can increasingly raise their awareness, consciousness and responsibility in the work of protecting and fighting forest fires.

Faced with complicated weather developments, prolonged drought, many people have processed the ground cover to plant spring crops, causing forest fires in some localities. The Department of Agriculture and Environment has requested commune-level authorities and functional forces to step up propaganda and instruct forest owners to strictly comply with regulations on fire prevention and control, especially during periods of prolonged dry weather, hot weather, and strong winds. Fire must not be used to process ground cover in forests and forest edges.

In Decree 35/2019/ND-CP dated April 25, 2019 of the Government stipulating administrative sanctions for violations in the forestry sector (amended and supplemented in Article 1 of Decree No. 07/2022/ND-CP dated January 10, 2022), the provisions on handling administrative violations in forest fire prevention and fighting are as follows:

Article 16: Violations of general regulations on forest fire prevention and control (not causing forest fires) such as: Acts of lighting fires, using fire to hunt wild animals, collect honey, collect war scrap; failure to comply with legal regulations on the use of fire when burning fields, fields, burning vegetation to prepare land for forest planting and reducing combustible materials in the forest; bringing explosives, flammable substances, flammable substances into the forest contrary to the provisions of law... shall be administratively fined from 100,000 VND to 10 million VND (depending on each act).

Article 17: Violations of legal regulations on forest fire prevention and control causing forest fires (for unforested or regenerated trees with reserves of less than 3 hectares; production forests of less than 0.5 hectares; protection forests of less than 0.3 hectares; special-use forests of less than 0.1 hectares; causing damage to forest product value of less than 100 million VND) shall be subject to administrative fines from 1 million VND to 100 million VND.

At the same time, remedial measures must be taken: Forced restoration to the original state; forced implementation of measures to remedy environmental pollution; forced reforestation or payment of reforestation costs until the forest becomes a forest according to the investment rate applied locally at the time of the administrative violation for each act as prescribed.

If violating the legal regulations on forest fire prevention and control causes forest fires (for unforested or regenerated trees with reserves of over 3 hectares; production forests over 0.5 hectares; protective forests over 0.3 hectares; special-use forests over 0.1 hectares; causing damage to forest products worth over 100 million VND), criminal liability will be considered according to the provisions of criminal law.

Source: https://backan.gov.vn/Pages/nang-cao-y-thuc-trach-nhiem-cua-cua-moi-can-bo-dan-d577.aspx