Chinese Vice Premier Hui Liangyu on Friday urged local authorities to intensify prevention efforts as the nation goes on red alert for forest fires.

Local authorities should strictly implement forest fire prevention measures and improve their ability to respond quickly to forest fires, Hui told a national teleconference on forest fire prevention.

Hui ordered local authorities to commit themselves to the work, so as to protect forest resources and ensure the safety of property and human lives.

Hui, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said China won the battle against forest fires last year.

But he warned that China has entered "an extremely dangerous period during which there is a very high risk of forest fires", as high temperatures have been hovering over northeast, north and southwest China regions since the beginning of winter last year.

Hui urged local authorities to put forest fire prevention at the top of their agenda, to publicize fire prevention knowledge and improve public awareness of forest fire prevention.

He also demanded more inspections of fire prevention work in fire-prone areas and nature reserves in order to detect and deal with hidden risks.

Source: Xinhua