Fire rekindles in SW China forest
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E-mail Xinhua, March 22, 2012
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Firefighters stand guard on the isolation zone to contain rekindled fire at the Wangjiatan Forest in Anning, a county-level city on the outskirts of Kunming, southwest China's Yunnan Province, March 22, 2012. The fire rekindled near the Jiudu Village on Thursday wee hours. Hundreds of firefighters have been dispatched to extinguish the fire. [Xinhua] |
A forest fire in southwest China's Yunnan Province started again Thursday morning, the local forest fire prevention headquarters said Thursday.
The fire was rekindled in Wangjiatan forest in Anning, a county-level city on the outskirts of the provincial capital of Kunming. The fire is currently under control, and nearby villages haven't been impacted, Cao Long, chief of the Yunnan forest armed police said.
As of 4:10 p.m., firefighters had nearly put out the fire in the isolated belt, and the group will continue to extinguish the fire outside the belt, Cao said.
Cao also said more than 2,000 fighters and local villagers have arrived at the scene to put out fire.
The fire, which first broke out at 5:25 p.m. Sunday in Yimen county, raged despite overnight firefighting efforts and spread through the county's mountainous forests to Caopu township in Anning on Monday.
Police have arrested a suspect who has been charged with littering cigarette butts while performing electrical maintenance work in the forest.
A severe drought has lingered in Yunnan for three consecutive years, causing water shortages for several million residents and creating fire risks.
Yunnan is China's second most heavily-forested province, with a total forest coverage of 47 percent.
