China mobilises 4,000 firefighters to contain forest fire

The fire was reported at 1:40 pm local time yesterday in Greater Hinggan Mountains in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, and spread to neighbouring Heilongjiang Province about two hours later, Xinhua quoted officials as saying.

Chinese authorities have mobilised over 4,000 firefighters to contain a huge forest fire in northern part of the country.

HT Image

The fire was reported at 1:40 pm local time yesterday in Greater Hinggan Mountains in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, and spread to neighbouring Heilongjiang Province about two hours later, Xinhua quoted officials as saying.

"The fire is still raging. The area has had little rain and the temperatures have been higher than usual," Li Shuming, deputy chief of Heilongjiang Forestry Department, said.

Over 4,000 firefighters are battling the forest fire in the area and 2,000 more are on the way, officials said.

The region's rainfall from June 22-26 was 42 to 100 per cent less than that of the same period last year while temperatures were three to eight degrees centigrade higher.

"This summer is the hottest as far as I can remember," said Xu Hongmei living in Hohhot, capital of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.