About 4,000 people have been mobilized to fight a forest fire
that is spreading rapidly through the parched timberlands of
southwest China's Chongqing municipality, a local forestry
official said on Thursday.
Soldiers, firefighters, armed police and local residents are
fighting the blaze, which has already burned for more than 26 hours
ravaging an area of 66 hectares, said the source with the municipal
forest fire prevention office.
The fire began at around 1:00 PM Wednesday in Yakou Village, in
Yubei District, about 40 kilometers northeast of downtown
Chongqing, and soon spread to neighboring Beibei District, the
source said.
Three 20-meter-wide firebreaks have been made to stop the blaze
from spreading to residential areas.
No casualties have been reported.
The worst drought in 50 years hit Chongqing and neighboring
Sichuan Province this year, affecting major areas over the past
three months.
The cause of the fire is still unclear, but the prolonged
drought has no doubt contributed to the situation, said the
source.
The city has reported 97 forest fires since the beginning of
August, damaging as much as 600 hectares of land.
Temperatures of up to 42.4 degrees Celsius were recorded on
Thursday, after a high of 43.4 degrees on Wednesday. The city
reported a record high of 44.5 degrees Celsius on August 16.
Chongqing has been hit by the worst drought since it began
keeping meteorological records in 1891. It began in mid-May in
northeastern areas, and has plagued most of the municipality for
some 90 days now.
Temperatures are forecast to stay above 40 degrees Celsius on
Friday, according tp the municipal meteorological observatory,
which predicted that the blistering weather could let up on
Monday.
Nearly eight million people and 7.3 million livestock are
suffering the effects of water shortage, which has also affected
1.3 million hectares of cropland, according to the municipal flood
prevention and drought relief headquarters.
The central and municipal governments have allocated 223 million
yuan (US$27.8 million) to fight "the worst drought in a century" to
hit Chongqing Municipality, said Vice Mayor Chen Guangguo on
Wednesday.
(Xinhua News Agency September 1, 2006)
