Two forest fires have been controlled in Guiyang city, capital of
southwest China's
Guizhou Province, local authorities said late
on Saturday. No casualty report has been available.
The two fires began at 3:00 PM on Friday afternoon in Huaxi
District of Guiyang City and burned 20 hectares, but they have been
controlled, said Jiang Xueming, head of the rescue team under the
local work safety administration.
More than 1,000 firefighters evacuated residents nearby and
removed on the Friday evening more than 100 tons of explosives
produced by a local factory which would have been ignited, Jiang
said.
The state fire fighting headquarter has arranged an aircraft to
fight the fires, but it is still unsure when the fires will be
eradicated due to the strong wind and dry weather, he said.
Investigations into the cause of the fires are underway.
The fires came a month after Chinese Vice Premier Hui Liangyu
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.
(Xinhua News Agency March 4, 2007)
