Forces participating in forest fire fighting in 2023

Faced with a very high risk of forest fires, in forest fire prevention and fighting measures, the province prioritizes the motto "prevention is key".

Although the hot season has just begun, the fear of forest fires has become evident to forest owners, rangers, and forest protection forces. Ranger Hoang Kim Quy of the Hue City Forest Protection Department said that although she is a female ranger, she is not afraid of hardships, working with the unit's forces day and night to patrol the forest.

Almost all the landscape and special-use pine forests in Hue City are at risk of fire at any time, so during patrols, the rangers cannot miss any areas. Patrols mainly monitor people burning incense and votive papers at cemeteries near the forest to remind people not to be subjective and to detect fires early to put them out in time when they are still "incipient".

Mr. Le Nhan Duc, Head of the Forest Protection Department of Hue City, said that forest fire prevention and control is not only the responsibility of the forest rangers but also of the whole society. People living near forests or having production activities related to forests play an important role in inspection and supervision, especially not being subjective when lighting fires for cooking or smoking near forests. When detecting signs of forest fires, people need to immediately report to the authorities and actively participate in timely fire fighting.

However, the forest rangers and forest protection forces still play a key and pioneering role in forest fire prevention activities. They must take all measures to control and extinguish the fire promptly when it is first detected, not allowing it to spread widely, leading to it getting out of control, causing many consequences and damage to the forest and the ecological environment. To do this well, there is no other way but to effectively implement the motto "prevention is the key".

Since the beginning of the year, Hue City Forest Protection Department has strengthened the forest rangers, forest protection, maintenance and purchase of additional equipment and machinery to respond to forest fires such as fire extinguishers, blowers, fire barriers, etc. Most of the water tanks at key locations are filled with water, along with machinery and water pipes ready to serve when a fire occurs.

In recent years, Phong Dien district has not only been concerned about forest fires in hilly and mountainous areas but also in acacia forests on coastal sand. Almost every year during the hot season, forest fires occur in Phong Hai, Dien Hoa, etc. Mobilizing local forces and people to participate in rescue operations when forest fires occur is difficult.

When a forest fire occurs on sand, it mainly depends on the forest rangers and forest owners to put out the fire. Fire-fighting water tanks are located dozens of kilometers away from the acacia forests on sand. Therefore, the most optimal solution is to send the forest rangers of Phong Dien district to coordinate with local authorities to regularly patrol and monitor with the motto "prevention is key" to prevent and promptly extinguish small fires when they are first detected.

In the mountainous district of Nam Dong, forest management, protection and community-based forest fire prevention and control have been well implemented. According to Mr. Hoang Van Chuc, Head of the Forest Protection Department of Nam Dong district, forces and units are not subjective or negligent in forest fire prevention and control. Communities, groups of households and families hold weekly meetings to discuss and deploy patrols and forest monitoring and forest fire prevention and control. This shows that communities and people are aware of the need to coordinate with forest protection forces and forest fire prevention and control in particular.

With the motto of “prevention is the key”, the Provincial Forest Protection Department coordinates with departments and branches to actively and synchronously deploy forest fire prevention measures. In particular, patrolling and monitoring in forests is the top priority task to promptly prevent and quickly handle fires when they are first detected.

Article and photos: Hoang Trieu