High temperatures to raise fire risks

Risks of forest fires are high in China this spring, with higher average temperatures forecast and strong winds expected in northern and western regions, the Ministry of Emergency Management said.

Human activities are also contributing to forest fire risks, it said, including burning sacrifices for ancestors, burning agricultural waste, smoking, camp fires and power transmission failure.

A senior official with the ministry told a news conference in 2020 that more than 97 percent of forest and grassland fires with established causes in the previous decade were caused by human activities.

The ministry and local departments have been cooperating to eliminate the sources of wildfires, punish those who start illegal fires and check for fire hazards in power transmission and distribution facilities in forest and pastoral areas.

In Chengdu, capital of Southwest China's Sichuan province, all people entering forest fire protection zones must scan a code to register their details, undergo inspection and hand over possible fire sources at checkpoints. If there is a solid reason to use a fire in the zones, an application for fire use must be submitted to the government.

As a result, the two major causes of forest fires, the burning of sacrifices and smoking outdoors, decreased by 83 percent and 46 percent respectively last year compared with the average over the previous five years, the ministry said.

Wang Yueping, deputy head of the ministry's fire prevention and management department, said, "China has added 300 million yuan ($47 million) of firefighting materials to its reserve to improve regional layout and the reserve structure of the materials.

"In recent years, we have promoted the construction of firefighting aviation forces, and supported local governments in introducing large aircraft to put out fires. We also accelerated the construction of aviation forest protection stations, parking aprons and water intake points."

Last year, the number of forest fires and the area affected by them fell to record lows.

Compared with the average of the previous five years, the area affected by forest fires fell by 69 percent to 4,292 hectares, and the number of forest fires fell to 616, down 73 percent, the ministry said.