Chinese Vice Premier Hui Liangyu has demanded a quick control over northeast China's forest fire that has burnt for more than three days.
Hui asked local governments and fire-control authorities in Heilongjiang Province to resort to more scientific measures to prevent the fire from further spreading and quench it as soon as possible.
He also ordered local authorities to step up preventative measures to make sure that no fire will break out in other regions of the province, where a dry spell with many strong-wind days has lasted a long period of time.
The vice premier asked local authorities to find out the cause of the fire soon and "severely punish the troublemaker".
The blaze was first spotted in the Greater Hinggan Mountains on Monday afternoon in the Hannuohe forestry area and it soon spread across some 15 square kilometers of forest.
More than 10,600 people and 10 helicopters have been mobilized to fight the fire, which was put out at 3:30 a.m. Wednesday but revived that afternoon and is still out of control.
Local sources said fanned by the wind with a speed of between 20 km to 28 km per hour, the blaze on the Greater Hinggan Mountains is heading southeastward.
By 3 p.m. Thursday, the re-ignited fire has spread to 45,000 square meters, or 4.5 hectares.
More than 7,000 people have been deployed in the southeast area to prevent the fire from spreading.
But local sources said that reinforcement was blocked as road transportation was difficult in the steep mountainous area, which made fire control even tougher.
Local authorities have been asked to improve fire-control efforts at night, when lower temperature and wind could help extinguish the fire.
The sources said local fire-control authorities are also preparing for artificial rainfall to contain the fire.
The China Meteorological Administration (CMA) said weak cold air that arrived in Heilongjiang Province on Thursday from Lake Baikal in eastern Siberia of Russia is expected to bring moderate rain.
The CMA said local meteorological departments are closely monitoring the whether condition to catch the best opportunity to simulate rainfall.
Jia Zhibang, director of the State Forestry Administration (SFA), said the administration had started an emergency response plan on Monday afternoon and issued a series of measures to contain the fire.
A working team led by SFA deputy director Lei Jiafu had already arrived at the Hannuohe forestry area, said Jia, who is also the chief director of China's national headquarters on prevention of forestry fire.
Sources with the headquarters said causes of the fire are still under investigation.
The Greater Hinggan Mountains region, where China's largest virgin forest reserve lies, was ravaged by a major forest fires on May 6, 1987, causing huge economic losses and many casualties.
Mohe County in the province was the victim of the fire which claimed 211 lives and injured 246, a result from smaller fires started by a forest worker's improper use of a machine and two other workers who were smoking.
Local sources said the Heilongjiang provincial government had called on local authorities to impose strict supervision over forest areas to guard against other possible forest fires.
Local governments and the forest fire-control authorities at various levels were told to keep a close eye on any field fires that may spread to forests, and all the officials concerned were warned against negligence of duty.
(Xinhua News Agency May 4, 2007)
