The ****trait of a Disastrous "Olympic Host" -- Dry Weather Causes Forest
Fires in Hunan Province
Dry Weather Causes Forest Fires in Hunan Province
Central News Agency
Mar 06, 2008
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More than 1,500 forest fires have occurred in about 89 counties and
cities in Hunan Province since February 6.(Robert Saiget/AFP/Getty Images)
Severe snowstorms in China have led to extremely dry weather, which have
caused high incidences of forest fires. The situation is particularly
serious in central China's Hunan province. As of March 3, forest fires
have claimed 22 lives and injured 13.
The provincial forest fire control headquarters said that since February
6, more than 1,500 forest fires have occurred in about 89 counties and
cities in Hunan Province burning more than 10,000 hectares of forest.
This is twice the area damaged by fires occurring at the same period
last year.
Forest fires on March 1 and 2 were especially severe. More than 300
fires occurred every day, including several major fires causing serious
casualties. According to the National Forest Fire Fighting Headquarters,
in this spring, areas such as northeast China, Inner Mongolia, and
southern provinces that have been hit by severe snowstorms, have the
highest fire danger level since the establishment of the Chinese
Communist regime.
According to China's state run media, the snowstorm a month ago has
caused large areas of broken branches and bamboos, and frozen bushes and
grass are extremely dry. Hence the combustible material on the ground
surface has increased 2 to 10 times more than usual, far exceeding the
safety limit of severe forest fires.
Meanwhile, the snowstorms have seriously damaged basic facilities for
preventing fires such as fire watchtowers, monitoring and warning
apparatuses, roads, and communications. In some areas, as much as 50
percent of such facilities have been damaged, seriously weakening the
ability to prevent and extinguish fires.
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