Fires Raging in China's Largest Forest Area

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, August 07, 2002

Fires Raging in China's Largest Forest Area

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Prolonged high temperatures have undermined fire control efforts although more than 2,000 people are fighting fires caused by lightning strikes in the country's biggest forest, the Greater Hinggan Mountains in northeast China.

No casualties have so far been reported, sources said.

Since late July seven separated fires, all generated by lightning strikes, have been detected in the virgin forests in the northern Greater Hinggan Mountain forests, the sources said, and four fires are still raging.

These fires are hard to control as all the areas where fires are raging are distant from roads, and fire-fighting airplanes are temporarily out of service since the usual annual fire-danger period has ended, according to local forest police.

The State Forestry Administration has dispatched four helicopters to the forest area to cope with the emergency, as local authorities and forest police are putting on more staff to tackle the emergency.

So far, 1,100 police firefighters and 1,000 local forest workers are working hard to extinguish the fires completely.

A huge forest fire in Greater Hingganling prefecture in 1987 caused losses worth thousands of millions of yuan and attracted worldwide attention.

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