1,800 people fighting forest fires in SW China
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More than 1,800 people were fighting two forest fires in southwest China's Yunnan Province Wednesday, local authorities said.
A fire started at about 3 a.m. in a pine forest in the Dianyuan Township of Panlong District, in the provincial capital of Kunming, and more than 1,500 fire-fighters, soldiers, government officials and villagers were dispatched to fight the blaze, a spokesman with the Panlong forest fire-prevention headquarters said.
"The fire was almost put out at 10 a.m., but it flared up again due to strong wind," he said.
Currently, they were still struggling to quench the fire, he said.
Another forest fire erupted at about 12:20 in the noon in the Kunyang Township in Kunming's Jinning County, and more than 310 people were fighting the fire, a spokesman with county government said.
By 5 p.m., the fire had been basically put under control, the spokesman said.
"But all fire-fighters are still staying at the site in the evening to completely put out the fire," he said.
Local authorities have launched investigation into the causes of the two forest fires and losses.
Qin Guangrong, governor of Yunnan, warned Tuesday that the risks of forest fires would increase as the province is experiencing the worst drought in six decades.
Fire control authorities in Yunnan said at least 84 forest fires had been reported in the province since November, up 611 percent from the same period in the previous year.
Just a week ago, three forest workers died while fighting a forest fire that broke out on Mt. Wugong in Binchuan County in the province.
The long dry spell has been lingering in Yunnan since last autumn due to lack of rainfall and high temperatures.
Almost 6 million people and 3.6 million head of livestock are facing drinking water shortages in the province as the drought is worsening, which has also threatened reservoirs and affected millions of hectares of crop land and forests.
The drought has also ravaged the neighboring Guizhou Province and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.
