Firefighters are remaining vigilant after they put out a forest
fire in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality on Friday
morning.
Fu Ming, deputy chief of the Chongqing Forest Police Bureau,
said firefighters would stay at the scene of the blaze to prevent
any further fires from breaking out in the tinderbox
conditions.
The blaze broke out on Wednesday in Yakou Village, Yubei
District, around 40 kilometers northeast of downtown Chongqing, and
soon spread to neighboring Beibei District.
Fu said that no casualties were reported as a result of the
fire, which ravaged more than 66 hectares of drought-parched forest
and was fought by around 6,000 soldiers, firefighters, armed police
and local residents.
The cause of the fire remains unknown, but the prolonged drought
plaguing the city undoubtedly contributed to its spread, he
said.
Chongqing Forest Police Bureau said that the city suffered from
97 forest fires since the beginning of August, which destroyed 607
hectares of farmland.
Chongqing is currently suffering from its worst drought since
the city's meteorological records began in 1891.
The drought has affected more than 1.3 million hectares, or 97
percent of the city's cropland, and resulted in losses of nearly
6.9 billion yuan (US$860 million).
Meanwhile, 320,000 hectares of cropland have seen no harvests
due to the drought.
Nearly 8 million people and 7.3 million livestock have
difficulty in obtaining drinking water, according to the Chongqing
Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters.
Temperatures between 40 and 42 C were reported in most parts of
Chongqing on Friday. The blistering weather may end between next
Monday and Wednesday when rain is expected to lower the mercury by
eight and 12 C, said Liu De, chief of Chongqing Meteorological
Observatory.
Vice-Mayor Chen Guangguo said on Wednesday that the central and
municipal governments had allocated 223 million yuan (US$28
million) to fight the drought in Chongqing.
The next day, E Jingping, secretary-general of the State Flood
Control and Drought Relief Headquarters, announced that the central
government would allocate a further 20 million yuan (US$2.5
million) to Chongqing to fight the drought.
The headquarters asked the authorities in Chongqing to prepare a
long-term campaign against the drought and assist affected people
this winter and next spring.
(China Daily September 2, 2006)