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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)