Helicopters not yet used to fight forest fires in Ha Tinh due to 'strong winds'

On the afternoon of July 1, Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue and leaders of several ministries, branches and Ha Tinh province inspected the scene of the forest fire in Truong Son commune (Duc Tho district, Ha Tinh).

Observing this fire, Mr. Hue directed the forces to continue to put out the fire completely, not letting the fire smolder and flare up again today; to prevent the fire from spreading to the area with the 500 kV line about 500 meters away.

At the scene, answering questions from the press about using helicopters to fight forest fires, the Deputy Prime Minister said that the Government had received this opinion, but found that fighting fires with helicopters requires the use of 3-5 helicopters to continuously pour water to extinguish a fire at one point. Meanwhile, the forest fires are widespread in many districts of many provinces (not only Ha Tinh has forest fires), so mobilizing helicopters is difficult.

Furthermore, in recent days, in Ha Tinh, the southwest wind (wind that becomes dry and hot after passing through the mountains) has been blowing strongly, affecting the ability to drain water to the fire spot, especially affecting flight safety. Therefore, the Government has not mobilized helicopters of the 18th Army Corps, the Ministry of National Defense Aviation Corporation.

"With such a large-scale fire situation, mobilizing local forces and extinguishing the fire with blowers and chainsaws is the most effective," said the Deputy Prime Minister, emphasizing that the weather will continue to be extremely hot in July, so provinces must not be subjective and calculate the need for fire-fighting equipment to report to the Government for approval of emergency spending.

In addition, he also directed Ha Tinh to strengthen propaganda and educate people not to burn straw in the hot weather. "On the way to inspect Truong Son commune, I still saw people burning straw in the fields, which can easily cause fires in forests and residential areas," he said.

According to Vice Chairman of Ha Tinh Provincial People's Committee Dang Ngoc Son, at 5:30 this morning, all forest fires in 7 districts of Ha Tinh were extinguished after the efforts of more than 15,000 officers, soldiers, forest rangers and militiamen..

However, the fire was still smoldering at the base of the forest and flared up again in the middle of this morning (July 1) in Duc Tho, Ky Anh and Cam Xuyen districts due to strong winds. By 12:30 noon today, the forest fires had been extinguished in Ky Anh and Cam Xuyen.

"Truong Son commune (Duc Tho district) alone is the last fire in Ha Tinh as of early this afternoon, and is being put out by nearly 400 people including military, police, forest rangers, and militia," said Mr. Son.

Ha Tinh leaders said that the fire in Truong Son commune is located on a high mountainside, so it is impossible to use pumps and transport water up there, so the method of extinguishing the fire is still to use tree branches and blowers to contain the fire.

Citing information from the National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting, Mr. Son said that the tropical depression will cause heavy rain in the Central region from tomorrow, so the forest fires can be completely stopped.However, Ha Tinh and some other central coastal provinces will have to continue to face rough seas and flash floods right after mobilizing forces to put out forest fires.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Ha Cong Tuan also said that when it rains heavily on July 2, the forest fires in the North Central provinces will end, but localities must immediately calculate the restoration of burned forests and consider this an urgent task.

Evening of June 30, a forest fire broke out at Mong Ga and Hoi La mountains (in Truong Son commune, Duc Tho district). Duc Tho district police sent officers to help 100 households living at the foot of Mong Ga mountain evacuate their belongings, in case the fire spread. Firefighters were on duty all night to set up firebreaks. Due to the darkness, thick vegetation, and steep hills, firefighting was difficult. By 5:30 a.m. on July 1, the fire was under control, but broke out again around 9:00 a.m.

Since June 4, the Central region has been experiencing continuous heat waves, with the focus on Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Quang Binh provinces..., with the highest daily temperature ranging from 36 to 39 degrees Celsius, with some places reaching over 40 degrees Celsius. In Ha Tinh, there have been many forest fires, most notably the 3-day fire on Hong Linh mountain that damaged more than 30 hectares of pine, acacia, and eucalyptus forests.

Talk toVnExpress, the leader of the Fire Prevention and Rescue Police Department (Ministry of Public Security) said that with the large and prolonged forest fire in Ha Tinh, traditional methods such as bringing water, building walls to prevent the fire from spreading (using blowers to clean up leaves, vegetation, and flammable substances in the forest) are considered optimal. "Modern firefighting methods such as using helicopters to put out fires are difficult to be effective, because the aircraft can only carry a few cubic meters of water or powder and can only control a small area," he said.