The Chinese government has ordered the establishment of fire-fighting teams in all 37,000 towns by 2010 after revealing that 95 percent of towns have no full-time fire-fighters.

Fires in rural areas account for more than 60 percent of China's total fires each year, and more than 65 percent of fire casualties are in the rural areas, said Vice Minister of Public Security Liu Jinguo on Wednesday.

By 2010, China will see an increase of 360,000 full-time or part-time fire-fighters in towns, and all administrative villages will set up voluntary fire-fighting organizations, Liu told a conference on fire-fighting force construction, in Jinan, capital of east China's Shandong Province.

Full-time township squads would be established through public recruitment, while the part-time teams would be comprised mainly of local police, said Liu.

Local governments would pay the salaries of full-time fire-fighters and subsidize voluntary fire-fighters, according to the ministry.

Provincial governments would increase financial support to poverty-stricken areas to help with fire-fighting and prevention work, it said.

Fire-fighters would be properly equipped with vehicles, fire extinguishers, and protective clothing, the ministry said.

In recent years, many factories in petrochemical and other risk industries had relocated to townships, raising the rate of fires in rural areas, according to the ministry.

(Xinhua News Agency September 13, 2006)