Forest fire continues, more artificial rainfall planned
HARBIN, Oct. 5, 2005-- Forest guards and meteorologists planned to dispatch aircraft to make more artificial rainfall to put out a forest fire in China's northeast border area, local firefighters said Wednesday.
The fire is located at the Shuanghe forest in Nenjiang County of Heihe City, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, the provincial forest fire control headquarters said.
Earlier reports said that 57 cannonballs were shot to make rainfall on the fire-ravaged area on Tuesday evening.
A total of five fires devoured approximately 660 hectares of forests over the past few days in Heihe City, with no casualties reported. Lasting drought in the whole fall contributed to the fires.
Nearly 2,000 firefighters, including more than 1,000 forest guards and officers, and five helicopters have been dispatched to extinguish the fires.
Cause of the fires have been initially ascertained, according to the local forest fire control headquarters.
At the end of September, farmer Dong Zhenkui at Woduhe Village in Duobaoshan Town of Nenjiang County, asked Li Youcai, a migrant worker Dong hired, to burn wheat straws for him. The burned straw signited the wormwood at the nearby ditches and ponds, and then the fire spread.
