Thai Nguyen province requires not to be negligent with fire

Scene of the forest fire in Khuon Tat hamlet, Phu Dinh commune, Dinh Hoa district. Photo: Quang Linh.

Accordingly, the fire damaged more than 10 hectares of special-use forest and many perennial tree growing areas in Phu Dinh commune (Dinh Hoa district) and spread to Son Duong district (Tuyen Quang province).

Due to the rugged terrain, high rocky mountains, steep slopes, and strong winds, it took firefighters a long time to clear a runway and contain the fire. It was not until 2 a.m. on March 23 that the fire was completely contained. The initial cause of the fire was determined to be a child playing with fire that ignited dry vegetation.

In an interview with the Agriculture and Environment Newspaper, Mr. Ma Doan Thanh - Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Phu Dinh commune said that immediately after receiving the news, the leaders of the People's Committee of Dinh Hoa district directly directed and mobilized about 300 people including forest rangers, police, militia and people... to participate in fighting the fire, clearing firebreaks and extinguishing the fire.

“To raise awareness and skills in forest fire prevention, the commune will coordinate with the forest rangers to deploy training courses, providing additional knowledge on forest protection and forest fire prevention and fighting to apply in practice in the locality when a forest fire occurs. Along with that, instructions on the use of blowers and some tools in forest fire fighting such as fire extinguishers, sickles, and machetes will be provided,” Mr. Thanh emphasized.

Image of a forest fire in Khuon Tat hamlet, Phu Dinh commune, Dinh Hoa district on the night of March 22. Photo: Quang Linh.

Sharing about solutions to prevent forest fires in the coming time, Mr. Le Cam Long - Head of the Forestry Sub-Department (Department of Agriculture and Environment of Thai Nguyen province) said: "To raise awareness of forest fire prevention, the unit has organized people to sign commitments, build forest protection conventions; assign permanent forces to be on duty regularly, detect forest fires early, effectively advise local authorities in forest fire fighting according to the 4 on-site motto; strengthen and maintain the activities of forest protection teams".

Mr. Long asked people not to be negligent or subjective in forest fire prevention. The provincial forest rangers will regularly update information on forest fire risk warnings and fire spots on the software of the Department of Forestry and Forestry (Ministry of Agriculture and Environment).

In the coming time, the Thai Nguyen Provincial Forest Protection Department will continue to coordinate with authorities at all levels to strengthen propaganda, dissemination and legal education in many forms to limit violations of the Forestry Law; direct the strengthening of patrolling and control work, resolutely combating violations of the law on forest protection...

The consensus of the authorities and the people is an important condition to control the fire in time, minimizing property damage. In order for forest fire fighting to be carried out effectively and safely, especially for the people, it is necessary to have propaganda classes and training courses on forest fire fighting skills in each commune and hamlet to minimize possible human damage.

Ms. Trieu Thi Hien (Khuon Tat hamlet), a resident who participated in fighting the forest fire from the evening of March 22 to the morning of March 23, shared: “When participating in fighting the forest fire, we understood the danger and hardship of the forest rangers and forest protection forces. Therefore, we always follow the direction and guidance of the authorities to ensure our own safety.”

According to the forecast of the Thai Nguyen Province Hydrometeorological Station, the forests in the western region of Thai Nguyen Province (including Dai Tu, Dinh Hoa, Phu Luong districts) will continue to maintain the pattern of no rain at night, sunny days, light winds. Temperatures range from 15 - 29 degrees Celsius, dry weather. Therefore, these are ideal conditions for forest fires to easily occur when people are careless.

It will not be until March 29 - April 1 that the continental cold high pressure will strengthen again, with cloudy skies, scattered rain and showers expected on March 29, then no rain, level 2 northeast wind, and cold weather, then the situation will improve.

Also on March 22, two forest fires broke out in Dai Tu district in Duc Luong and Van Phu communes (damaging about 4 hectares of production forest, the fires were controlled at night).

At the conference to deploy urgent tasks in forest fire prevention and fighting on the morning of March 23, the People's Committee of Dai Tu district directed communes to specifically count the damage, investigate, find out the cause to have a plan to handle, overcome the consequences, quickly replant forests to replace the burned areas to ensure coverage of over 46%. At the same time, immediately implement solutions to minimize forest fires.