Lessons from the forest fire in Nghi Kieu - Nghi Loc

(Baonghean) - The forest fire that occurred on May 1, 2012 in Khe Lang area, Nghi Kieu commune (Nghi Loc) damaged about 10 hectares of forest (including planted forest, pine forest and reed area). This is a warning at the beginning of the hot season for localities in fire prevention and control work, especially localities with many areas of pure pine trees.

On the morning of May 3, we returned to Khe Lang area, Nghi Kieu commune, climbed up from the top of the hill and saw a large forest in front of us, completely burned black, with many eucalyptus and pine trees burned to the point where only half of their trunks remained against the deep blue sky. The district's interdisciplinary team is on the scene to measure and investigate the cause of the fire.

Pine forest burned down in Khe Lang - Nghi Kieu (Nghi Loc).

Mr. Phung Nhat Thuan - Chairman of Nghi Kieu Commune People's Committee said: The cause of the forest fire was determined to be a fire from the forest of Nam Thanh - Nam Dan commune that spread at 1:30 p.m. on May 1 at Block 8, Sub-area 966, Nghi Kieu commune. The commune's forest protection team discovered and deployed to put out the fire. However, due to hot weather and the West windMaleThe strong wind blew the fire out and spread quickly to the pine hill areas. At that time, the commune leaders implemented the "4 on-site" plan, promptly mobilizing over 300 local forces to fight the forest fire. At the same time, they coordinated with Nghi Cong Nam, Nghi Cong Bac, Nghi My, Nghi Lam, Nghi Van communes to mobilize more forces to fight the fire and build firebreaks. Under the direction of relevant provincial and district departments, the fire was brought under control by 5:00 p.m. the same day.

At the scene, according to our observations, this pine forest area is mixed with planted forests such as Melaleuca and Eucalyptus, however the vegetation is very dense, mainly fern species. This is also the reason why when a forest fire occurs, the fire spreads very quickly, making it difficult to extinguish.

Mr. Phung Nhat Thuan also admitted that the entire pine forest area managed by the Nghi Loc Forest Protection Management Board has not been cleared for a long time. When a forest fire broke out, although a large force was mobilized, it seemed that fire fighting was still ineffective because the fire fighting force mainly used rudimentary means to put out the fire such as knives, straw, etc. Especially in the area where the forest fire broke out, next to Khe Lang Lake with a large water reserve, however, the water from this lake could not be used to put out the fire because there was no specialized water pump to push the water up. And what is especially important is that the firebreaks in the area already existed but had not been renovated, so when a fire broke out, the fire crossed the firebreaks and spread to other areas.

A leader of the Nghi Loc Protective Forest Management Board explained: Due to the large cost of collecting ground cover, about 460,000 VND/ha, while there is no support from the State, the unit has only been able to collect ground cover at some key points in the pine exploitation area such as Nghi Van, Nghi Lam, Nghi Yen... As for the firebreaks, the Board has been able to renovate over 27 km since the beginning of the year, but in the middle of this year, it has not been able to renovate (about 2 months before the ground cover grows very quickly). Especially, 10 days before the fire, the Board's staff had to go to Khe Lang area 4 times to direct the extinguishing of 4 small fires caused by fire from Nam Thanh commune (MaleThe fifth time was due to the heat and strong winds, the fire broke out too quickly.

After the forest fire in Khe Lang - Nghi Kieu, the limitations were exposed, mainly due to subjective reasons. Firstly, the awareness of some people in forest protection work is still low, because in just over 10 days, there were 5 consecutive large and small forest fires in Khe Lang - Nghi Kieu. Secondly, most of the vegetation on the pine area has not been collected and treated, especially the firebreak has not been renovated in time, not to mention the lack of equipment for fire fighting... However, we must also commend the People's Committee of Nghi Kieu - Nghi Loc commune for promptly mobilizing forces to fight the forest fire.

Mr. Nguyen An Ninh - Head of Nghi Loc Forest Protection Department added: The district is proposing to the authorities to investigate and verify where the fire started from, and to clarify who is responsible. Especially through the traces of the fire, through the crime denunciation mailbox and information from the people, the authorities are investigating the subject who caused the forest fire and strictly handling it before the law.

Van Truong