A forest fire broke out in Hulun Buir, a mountainous area of
north China's Inner
Mongolia Autonomous Region, on Wednesday night and had spread
to over 1,500 hectares of woods by 6:20 AM yesterday.
Xinhua News Agency reported today that the local government has
mobilized 1,387 fire fighters and forest police to the Gaojishan
area in the Wunu'er Township of Yakeshi City to put it out.
"The situation is severe," a local official said, adding that
due to a strong wind fighting the fire was proving difficult. They
planned to use the opportunity of an expected reduction in winds
after 7:00 PM to take action.
According to the region's fire fighting office, 1,187 people
have already arrived at the site while 200 others are rushing
toward it.
The regional government has sent a working team to organize
firefighting work and an investigation into the cause of the fire
is also underway.
(Xinhua News Agency October 14, 2005)
