Fire prevention and forest protection

Implementing the "4 on-site" motto well in forest fire prevention and fighting during the peak dry season, functional forces are on duty 24/7, ready to respond to all situations.

Forest guard day and night

Affected by the 6-month dry season, the Cau Mountain Dau Tieng protective forest (Dinh Thanh and Minh Hoa communes of Dau Tieng district) is still experiencing scorching heat, the soil is becoming arid, and the trees inside the forest are bare. This is the time when the forest is at high risk of fire, so the management, protection and ensuring forest fire prevention and fighting (PCCCR) of the provincial and local authorities are always on duty 24/7.

Implementing the fire prevention and fighting safety plan at the Cau Mountain Dau Tieng protection forest, we followed the interdisciplinary force coordinated by the Fire Prevention and Rescue Police Team of Dau Tieng district, under the Fire Prevention and Rescue Police Department of the Provincial Police and the Cau Mountain Dau Tieng Protection Forest Management Board, Dau Tieng Forest Protection Department, following the "white runway" deep into the forest to carry out patrol and survey work.

Hurriedly passing the rocky bend, Major Nguyen Anh, Deputy Captain of the Dau Tieng Fire Fighting and Rescue Police Team, shared that depending on each location and the actual conditions of the forest vegetation, the authorities will implement appropriate firebreaks. The "white strip" will clear the vegetation and flammable substances to create a boundary to prevent the spread of fire, the "green strip" will plant and improve thick, fire-resistant vegetation to help prevent fire and prevent the spread of fire. Through a survey recorded in the dry season this year, the authorities in the Nui Cau Dau Tieng protective forest area have proactively cleared and repaired more than 30km of forest patrol roads and nearly 7km of firebreaks.

The forest is facing a potential risk of forest fires at level 5 (extremely dangerous level), Mr. Luu Tuan Bang, Deputy Head of the Forest Management, Protection and Development Department of the Cau Mountain Dau Tieng Protection Forest Management Board, shared that the Cau Mountain Dau Tieng upstream protection forest is planned as a very vulnerable protection forest, which needs to be strictly managed and protected. The entire natural forest is concentrated in Dinh Thanh commune, with complex terrain, high slopes, and a limited forest patrol road system, not yet smooth between the blocks and sub-zones. Along the Cau Mountain Dau Tieng protection forest, there are households living intercropping, frequently entering and exiting the forest; especially tourists visiting Thai Son Mountain Cau Pagoda for tourism, sightseeing, entertainment, and camping in the forest. Along with that, most of the vegetation in the Cau Mountain Dau Tieng protection forest is mainly flammable and combustible plants such as bamboo, reeds, and stone grass... which have accumulated over many years, posing a high risk of fire.

“Every year, Cau Mountain welcomes more than 30,000 visitors to visit Thai Son Pagoda, a place of worship, experience tourism, combined with eating, lighting fires, and camping in the forest. Cau Mountain Dau Tieng protective forest has many trails that anyone can enter and exit the forest. Some people make a living by going into the forest to collect dry firewood, light fires for honey, or smoke cigarettes... which increases the risk of fire. Just a small action, lack of caution when using fire inside the forest can cause a fire to spread, so the authorities continuously broadcast propaganda warnings not to light fires in the dry season in and around the forest to avoid causing fires and spreading fires; disseminate legal knowledge about forest protection and fire prevention and control in crowded places. On the other hand, the authorities have also met directly with each household and business household around Thai Son Pagoda and Tha La peninsula to propagate and sign commitments to do a good job of fire prevention and control”, Mr. Luu Tuan Bang added.

Authorities coordinate patrols across the Cau Mountain Dau Tieng protective forest to ensure forest fire prevention and fighting safety.

Ready to respond

The deeper we go into the Cau Dau Tieng Mountain protective forest, the steeper and more dangerous the terrain becomes, with some sections of the road being interrupted, divided and difficult to observe, making the direct survey work of the authorities somewhat limited and difficult. At this time, the authorities have requested officers to use high-altitude fire control equipment (Flycam) to serve the monitoring and supervision of PCCCR safety from above.

Having just flown the high-altitude fire control equipment, an officer of the Management Board of the Cau Mountain Dau Tieng Protective Forest said that in the past, in some areas inside the Cau Mountain Dau Tieng Protective Forest that were difficult to access by patrol, the functional unit had received attention and support from local authorities to invest in guard posts and "fire watchtowers" at high positions to facilitate traditional observation and had to use specialized officers with many years of experience in the forest. However, there were still limitations when it was impossible to promptly detect the fire from the moment it first broke out, control the wind direction and wind speed; this is one of the conditions for preventing and extinguishing fires early and from a distance, which is very necessary. From there, the functional unit reported and proposed to the competent authority to study and apply technology to equip high-altitude fire control equipment to serve professional work. After being equipped, this device has optimized many features to reduce human effort, shorten the time of moving in difficult-to-reach locations, complex terrain, unsafe for members of the group, patrol team. The high-altitude fire control device transmits image data to the control center, along with the feature of detecting and analyzing wind direction and wind speed, so that even during the day or at night, the functional forces can still grasp, calculate to come up with the most effective response plan to prevent and extinguish the fire.

Stopping for a break at the forest protection post on the western slope of Cau Dau Tieng Mountain, the members of the group did not rest in a hurry but quickly divided themselves to survey the firefighting equipment and tools according to the motto "4 on-site". The 10,000-liter water tank was filled with water, sprayers, water tanks, water cans, fire-fighting rakes... were always ready to serve the mission.

With the silent dedication of units, functional forces, and localities in protecting and ensuring fire prevention and fighting safety at the Cau Mountain Dau Tieng protective forest, since the beginning of the year, there has not been any fire. To protect the forest from the dangers of "fire", it is necessary to have the cooperation and contribution of the majority of people and tourists in raising awareness and responsibility for ensuring fire prevention and fighting safety, protecting the "green lung" of Cau Mountain Dau Tieng.

According to the authorities, although Cau Mountain is located close to Dau Tieng Lake, "far water cannot put out a nearby fire", and there are even terrains where the road leading to the lake cannot ensure safety for specialized fire trucks to pump water to serve the fire, reducing the effectiveness of firefighting in the "golden time" of the first seconds when a fire breaks out. Storing water in tanks, tubs, and shoulder-mounted sprayers is extremely necessary in many locations. In addition, the authorities have equipped pickup trucks with equipment, pressurized machinery, and 400m of water pipes to be faster and more mobile to serve the firefighting effectively.

HUNG PHUOC

Source: https://baobinhduong.vn/cang-suc-phong-lua-giu-rung-a346637.html