Preventing forest fires: Need to raise people's awareness - Lang Son Newspaper and Radio and Television

Scene of forest fire in Van Lang district

According to preliminary statistics from the Forest Protection Department, from the beginning of 2025 to now, the whole province has recorded 51 fires, including 8 forest fires with a damaged area of ​​over 77 hectares (there were no fires at the same time last year). Of which, from March to mid-April 2025, 3 forest fires occurred, causing damage to more than 5.7 hectares of planted forests.

Mr. Nong Truong Giang, Head of Cao Loc District Forest Protection Department (in charge of Lang Son city and Cao Loc district) said: From March 2025 to mid-April 2025, in the area under the responsibility of the department, there were 11 forest and vegetation fires with a burned area of ​​20.21 hectares, causing damage to 3.94 hectares of forest. The preliminary cause of some fires was due to people subjectively burning vegetation to plant forests, clearing ditches to burn dry grass and waste near the edge of the forest. Also during the above period, the unit handled 2 cases of violations of regulations, causing forest fires.

Although in recent times, implementing the directives of superiors, the forest rangers and related units in districts and cities have strengthened forest fire prevention and fighting (PCCCR), forest and grassland fires have still occurred continuously. According to information from the Provincial Forest Protection Department, the causes of recent fires are mainly due to people burning vegetation to plant forests, processing vegetation to grow custard apples in rocky mountain areas, burning votive papers during the Qingming Festival... In particular, since the beginning of 2025, the weather in the province has been dry and there has been no rain, so there is a high risk of fire. When a fire occurs, the fire spreads quickly and is difficult to extinguish.

Up to now, the functional forces in the province have deployed many solutions to manage and protect forests, improve the capacity of PCCCR, in which, special attention is paid to propaganda for the people. Particularly from the beginning of 2025 to now, the forces have conducted 39 integrated propaganda sessions with over 2,400 participants, 26 conferences and meetings with 1,096 participants and 92 mobile propaganda sessions; coordinated forest patrols and control 301 sessions... At the same time, the functional agencies also regularly update the fire level zoning table, recommending that people do not use fire in the forest at high-risk times.

However, due to the scattered population, the forest area in the whole province is currently quite large with a total area of ​​over 580,000 hectares (of which over 235,000 hectares are planted with flammable trees, mainly pine, acacia, eucalyptus forests), so the risk of fire is always latent. More worryingly, despite being propagated, some people are still subjective when burning and clearing the ground without control measures, not clearing the surrounding area...

Ms. HTN, Po Tang village, Hop Thanh commune, Cao Loc district said: At around 3:20 p.m. on March 20, 2025, at Lo Ho hill, Co Luong village, Gia Cat commune, Cao Loc district, due to carelessness and subjectivity in the process of clearing the eucalyptus forest undergrowth of my family, I let a fire break out. At that time, the weather was very dry, so the fire caught fire very quickly and spread to the pine forest next door, causing damage to 1,500 pine trees (equivalent to 0.8 hectares). Immediately after the fire was extinguished, I went to the authorities to report the incident and strictly complied with the regulations on handling administrative violations. At the same time, I was informed about PCCCR by the district forest rangers, this was a profound lesson for me.

Mr. Nguyen Huu Hung, Head of the Provincial Forest Protection Department, said: In the face of the current weather situation, on April 15, the department issued a document directing district forest protection units, Mobile Forest Protection Teams and PCCCR to strengthen forest fire prevention and control measures. In particular, focusing on mobile propaganda to advise people and forest owners to raise awareness and responsibility in forest fire prevention and control, not to use fire in forests and forest edges; organize forces on duty 24/24 hours, ensure readiness in terms of forces, means and equipment to participate in forest fire fighting; strengthen inspection, control and forest patrol...

Currently, the forest fire forecast level in the province is at level IV, level V (dangerous and extremely dangerous). In hot, dry, windy weather conditions, even a small spark can cause a forest fire. Therefore, in addition to the participation of functional forces, each person also needs to further raise awareness and responsibility in forest fire prevention and control.

Source: https://baolangson.vn/ngan-chan-chay-rung-can-neu-cao-y-thuc-cua-nguoi-dan-5044254.html