The cause of the forest fire needs to be determined.

(Baonghean) - It can be affirmed that this year, Nghe An province has experienced the highest number of forest fires in recent years, with many complex developments and significant damage. Although relevant departments have decisively focused on directing forest fire prevention and control efforts, the fires in the province have revealed many shortcomings.

Lack of "4 on-site" elements.

Since the beginning of the hot season, our province has experienced 24 forest fires, damaging 155 hectares, mainly concentrated in the districts of Nam Dan, Do Luong, Yen Thanh, and Hung Nguyen… Nam Dan alone has had the most fires (7 incidents), with over 100 hectares of forest burned. The causes of the fires have been identified as the prolonged dry weather and the low awareness of some officials and people, not to mention many cases of intentional arson. In Nam Dan district, for example, most forest fires were intentionally set, but the authorities have been too slow in investigating and prosecuting the arsonists. It is noteworthy that the implementation of the "four on-the-spot" principles (on-the-spot command, on-the-spot forces, on-the-spot equipment, and on-the-spot logistical supplies) when forest fires occur in Nam Dan is still very weak. The responsibility for forest fire prevention and control of the heads of government, from the district level and some communes, is still unclear in terms of supervision and direction.

Specifically, when local forest fires occur, very few on-site forces are mobilized. For example, in Nam Loc and Nam Tan communes (Nam Dan district), a fire in Sub-areas 1018 and 1017B on June 1st, covering over 70 hectares, was mobilized by over 500 people, but in reality, the effectiveness of their participation was low. Similarly, forest fires in Nam Thanh commune only mobilized 170 people, Nam Nghia 150 people, and Nam Xuan 190 people… Particularly, on-site command remains weak. For instance, in the Nam Linh commune fire on June 4th, which burned from 8:00 AM to 12:30 PM, when provincial firefighting forces were reinforced, key leaders of Nam Dan district were busy in meetings and arrived too late. Furthermore, the "on-site logistics" lacked firefighting equipment, meaning there was none available to distribute to the people. Some villagers had to independently provide their own equipment and struggled with extinguishing the fires. Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan, Head of the Forest Protection and Management Department of the Forest Protection Sub-Department, stated: "In forest fire prevention and control, the 'four on-site' approach is extremely important, but the 'four on-site' approach in Nam Dan is still very weak. The district needs to learn from this experience and should not rely solely on the provincial forest firefighting reinforcements."

Through these forest fires, we see that some localities are still negligent in forest fire monitoring and are slow to detect forest fires. For example, the Nam Dan Special Forest Management Board manages a considerable area of ​​pine trees but is complacent and irresponsible in forest fire monitoring. For instance, the first fire broke out at the Ba Khe dam, Hamlet 4, Nam Loc commune (Nam Dan), only about 700m from the Nam Dan Special Forest Management Board's forest protection station, yet it was not detected in time. This proves that at the time of the forest fire, the station's staff were not present to monitor, or were negligent and failed to detect it in time. However, right after the large forest fire in Nam Loc, Mr. Le Dinh Minh - Head of the Nam Dan Special Forest Management Board - even "boasted" to me: The Nam Loc Forest Protection Station always has 4-5 staff members monitoring the forest fire.

When I arrived, I only saw one officer on duty at the station. This management board has been "negligent" for several years, failing to entrust forest management to the local people. According to residents of Nam Tan, since 2006, the Nam Dan Special Forest Management Board has assigned several households in Nam Loc and Nam Tan to protect and harvest pine resin. Because the assignment was deemed inappropriate, the Management Board suspended these households and transferred management, protection, and resin harvesting to other units from elsewhere. The people did not benefit from the forest, leading to conflicts, and many households vandalized the area, causing disruption and insecurity in the pine forest.

Forest fires, besides intentional arson and other objective factors, are also caused by the low level of public awareness and compliance. For example, the fire that burned 2.7 hectares of forest in Sub-area 1023a (Dai Hue hill) in Hung Tay commune (Hung Nguyen district) initially originated from Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Nao's household in Phuc Dien hamlet, Dai Hue commune, burning sawdust. The fires in Cong Thanh and My Thanh (Yen Thanh district) on May 22nd are also suspected to have been caused by burning fields by households bordering Thuong Son commune (Do Luong district) and My Thanh commune (Yen Thanh district). Notably, the fire in Thuong Son commune (Do Luong district) occurred at 4:00 AM on May 25th. Immediately after detection, the forest rangers, along with the district and commune authorities, mobilized firefighting forces. By 7:00 AM, the fire was extinguished, and the Thuong Son commune People's Committee was tasked with organizing fire prevention and control measures. However, the Thượng Sơn commune authorities were negligent and complacent in their patrols, causing the fire to reignite, resulting in a large blaze that spread to Bảo Thành commune (Yên Thành district). The forest fire was only brought under control around 4 PM that same day. During the firefighting process, one resident of Bảo Thành commune (Yên Thành district) died and another was injured.

There are still instances of militia members fighting forest fires with their bare hands.

Witnessing the fire on May 22nd in Cong Thanh and My Thanh communes, we also saw many people, lacking knowledge and skills in firefighting, rushing into the blaze against the wind, resulting in 2-3 people from Cong Thanh commune being "lost" in the smoke and dust. Furthermore, some militia forces mobilized from other communes to My Thanh to extinguish the fire did so in a "reactive" manner – fighting the forest fire with bare hands.

We need to learn serious lessons from this.

Mr. Le Cao Binh, Head of the Forest Protection Department and Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture, stated: "Through the forest fires, alongside the shortcomings, it can be seen that the authorities of some localities have decisively directed forest fire prevention and control efforts. For example, in Do Luong and Yen Thanh districts, district leaders were present to directly coordinate firefighting efforts. Particularly noteworthy is the sacrifice of Mr. Tran Ba ​​Cong (a militia member from Bao Thanh commune, Yen Thanh district) while saving the forest. Military forces, mobile forest rangers, and police officers... did not shy away from difficulties and made strenuous efforts to fight the fire to the end. Two officers were injured while fighting a fire in Nam Dan. In Do Luong district, after the fire, a serious meeting was held to review the experience, and a reprimand was issued to Mr. Nguyen Tat Hao, Chairman of the People's Committee of Thuong Son commune, for his lack of responsibility in forest fire prevention and control. The Disciplinary Council is currently proposing disciplinary action against the Head of the Commune Police and the Commune Militia Commander of Thuong Son commune." However, some local authorities and forest owners have not been actively and decisively involved in fighting forest fires. Upon receiving information about forest fires, they did not act quickly, allowing the fires to spread widely before organizing rescue efforts, causing significant damage to the forests. Particularly noteworthy is the repeated occurrence of forest fires in Nam Dan district. Although the Nam Dan District People's Committee held meetings to learn from the experience, these meetings were very general, failing to clarify the responsibilities of individuals and groups involved, and not taking any action or reprimanding any commune or district officials or forest owners.

Forest fire in Thuong Son (Do Luong). Photo: Huu Hoan.

Mr. Binh added: To effectively combat forest fires, it is necessary to resolve disputes definitively, implement forest allocation and assign responsibilities to the people. Local authorities, forest management units, household owners, and neighborhood groups should deploy personnel to take turns on duty at the forest and forest entrances, prohibiting and reminding people to protect the forest. Forest fire prevention and control should be implemented according to the principle of prioritizing fire prevention and implementing the "four on-the-spot" principle. The responsibility of the heads of Party committees and governments at the district, commune, and village levels, forest owners, and forest rangers should be promoted. In all forest fires, leaders of forest management units, forest ranger stations, local authorities at the commune and district levels, and the forest ranger sub-department must be present at the scene to command and direct forest firefighting according to the prescribed forest fire prevention and control plan. At the same time, they must quickly report all developments of the forest fire to the permanent office so that additional forest firefighting forces can be deployed.

Following recent forest fires, many cases are suspected to be intentional arson. Authorities need to quickly track down the arsonists and bring them to justice. If forest fires occur due to delayed information, untimely response, or ineffective firefighting efforts leading to large-scale fires, then after the fire, it is necessary to clarify the responsibilities of the collective and individuals involved and ensure they are severely punished according to the law.

Van Truong