The forest fire raging in northeast China's Greater Hinggan
Mountains, the country's largest forest zone, since Thursday
morning has been "brought under control," fire fighters said on
Sunday.
More than 4,000 people, including armed police and forest
workers, launched a "general attack" at 6:00 PM on Saturday on the
blaze in an area of virgin forest in the Oroqen Autonomous Banner
of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, bordering Heilongjiang Province, said a spokesman with
the fire-fighting headquarters.
"The fire had been basically brought under control 12 hours
later by 6:00 AM on Sunday," the spokesman said.
Another 1,000 people had arrived at the scene Sunday morning to
reinforce the fire fighting team, he said.
"Currently, the scene of fire is blanketed in heavy smoke
accompanied by small, sporadic blazes, and more than 5,000 people
are clearing the area to extinguish all fires completely," he
said.
Eighteen helicopters had also been used to put out the fire
during the past several days.
Initial investigations show that the fire was triggered by
lightening strikes and it had spread to 16 square km in the
country's largest forest zone.
(Xinhua News Agency September 23, 2007)
