Preventing Intentional Forest Fires

(Baonghean) - For many years, forest fires caused by humans have always been a burning issue in forest protection and fire prevention. While this situation has not been completely prevented, propaganda work and resolving conflicts among people at the root need to be further promoted.

As the locality with the highest number of forest fires caused by human error in the province, in recent years, this has always been a "headache" for all levels of the industry and the district forest rangers.MaleDan. According to Mr. Tran Dinh Huong - Secretary of Nam Dan District Party Committee, the cause of forest fires comes from human error, there are many types of behavior, in which, it can be due to intentional acts of bringing fire into the forest and unintentionally causing forest fires (such as people living near the forest clearing and burning trash in the garden causing the fire to spread into the forest, tourists accidentally going sightseeing, people smoking at work causing embers to fall, bringing fire into the forest to burn honey bees, etc.).

Clearing the ground at the tomb of Mrs. Hoang Thi Loan (MaleGuitar

However, the most dangerous and also the most time-consuming act of the investigating agencies is the act of intentionally burning forests due to conflicts of interest among the people regarding forest protection and economic benefits from forests. This phenomenon began to occur in Nam Dan from 2003-2004, when the price of pine resin began to increase, while the issue of land allocation and forest protection still had many unreasonable points, not really fair and democratic, causing simmering and prolonged conflicts.

Over the past years, there has been almost no year in the area where intentional forest fires have not occurred, causing significant economic damage and panic among the people. Faced with this situation, the District Party Committee and People's CommitteeMaleThe group has directed to focus on strengthening the investigation of forest arson cases in the area. The police force closely coordinates with the communes, trying to investigate to create a deterrent effect and prevent crime. Determining that this is a very difficult type of case to investigate because the scene has been burned down, so mobilizing people to participate in reporting crimes is a measure that the police force is always interested in. Thanks to that, many cases of intentional forest arson have been found and brought to trial, typically in some cases that occurred in Nam Kim, Nam Loc, Khanh Son...

Not only inMaleForest fires caused by human error are still quite common in other localities in the province. Head of the Provincial Forest Protection Department - Mr. Le Cao Binh said: According to preliminary statistics, in forest fires, human error accounts for about 50% of the fires, and only about 20% of the perpetrators are found.

As of 2010, atMaleThere have been nearly 10 forest fires in the province, but only 2 have been investigated. In 2011, 2/7 cases in the province were determined to be caused by human intentional acts, but to date the perpetrators have not been found. The actions of the subjects are often quite cunning, while the crime scenes are often burned down, making it difficult to find evidence.

Agree with the District Party SecretaryMaleMr. Binh also said that the main reason for this situation is the inappropriate land allocation and forest protection contract. In many localities, this process has not been implemented openly and transparently. Many households with labor and living near the forest have not received the forest, while the forest has been allocated too much to households living far from the forest and not qualified to protect the forest.

In reality, intentional forest arson cases often leave very few traces, so measures such as opening crime reporting mailboxes and sending forces to hamlets and villages to investigate are always emphasized.

In addition, the hot months, the peak of forest fires, are also the time when students of all levels are on summer vacation, the risk of forest fires due to unintentional errors is very high. Therefore, propaganda work in schools needs to be strengthened. Every year, the Department of Education and Training has a document requesting district education offices to disseminate the content of fire prevention and fighting safety to students of general schools, organize propaganda in the form of extracurricular activities, invite forest rangers to talk, and propagate by words and images.

Many localities have organized competitions to learn about the Law on Forest Protection and Development. Organized households to sign a commitment not to violate the regulations on fire prevention and control. All these measures must be implemented regularly, especially before the hot season, when the risk of forest fires is always latent.

Phu Huong