Effective forest fire prevention and fighting

Forest rangers of Dien Bien district access the forest fire warning application software.

Due to the impact of El Nino, the weather and climate in the province are complicated, with prolonged heat and reduced rainfall. In particular, March and April coincide with the agricultural burning season of the people, so there is a very high risk of forest fires. To proactively implement forest fire prevention and control solutions, from the beginning of the dry season, the Forest Protection Department has strengthened the direction of the Forest Protection Departments of districts, towns and cities to organize and implement forest fire prevention and control work in the province during the dry season. The application of information technology in performing assigned tasks also helps to improve the effectiveness of forest fire prevention and control work. In addition, the forest rangers also focus on propaganda, raising people's awareness of forest protection as well as mobilizing the strength, role and responsibility of local Party committees and authorities in forest management, protection and forest fire prevention and control.

Muong Nhe district forest rangers put up signs prohibiting deforestation to help raise awareness among the people.

Sharing about the outstanding results in forest fire prevention and control work in the province in 2023, Mr. Ha Luong Hong, Head of the Forest Protection Department, said: In the province, people living in rural areas, the main occupation is farming, cultivation, production mainly in the form of slash-and-burn farming, low-water rice fields, living conditions, and economy are still difficult, profits from buying and selling forest products are high; the habit of building houses with wood, using firewood as fuel... causes many difficulties in forest management and protection. Along with that, the weather has complicated developments, the El Nino phenomenon, prolonged drought, the risk of forest fires, creating great pressure on the forest rangers in forest fire prevention and control work. Despite many difficulties, the Forest Protection Department has proactively developed plans and prepared solutions to prevent forest fires. Since the beginning of the year, local forest rangers have guided community forest owners, households and individuals in the province to develop 2,715 fire prevention and fighting plans for assigned forest areas. Advised the People's Committees of communes to complete and recognize 1,231 village-level fire prevention and fighting teams with 12,794 members, ready to carry out fire fighting tasks in the area. Along with that, 7/7 forest owners are organizations including: Nam Po District Police, Na Tau Prison, District Protection Forest Management Boards (Dien Bien, Tuan Giao, Muong Cha), Muong Phang Historical Relic and Environmental Landscape Area and Muong Nhe Nature Reserve have developed fire prevention and fighting plans, sent to the forest rangers and local Fire Prevention Police agencies for comments.

The Provincial Forest Protection Department inspects forest owners' compliance with the law on forest fire prevention and control.

In addition to developing plans, the Forest Protection Department also focuses on inspecting forest owners' compliance with the law on forest fire prevention and control. During the year, inspections were conducted at the Forest Protection Management Boards of 2 districts: Muong Cha and Tuan Giao. The forest rangers also proactively coordinated with local Party committees and authorities to organize "forest fire response and search and rescue" drills in 2023. Five commune-level drills were organized in the following communes: Luan Gioi (Dien Bien Dong district); Hua Ngai (Muong Cha district); Sin Thau (Muong Nhe district); Cha Nua (Nam Po district); Ang To (Muong Ang district) and two district-level drills (Tua Chua district, Dien Bien Phu city).

Forest rangers conduct inspections of areas at risk of fire.

On the other hand, to do a good job of forest fire prevention and control, last year, the forest rangers also applied many techniques and technologies in the forecasting process. In particular, units regularly monitor and update information on Hydrometeorological Forecasting of Dien Bien Hydrometeorological Station and forest fire warning information on the website of the Forest Protection Department, to promptly notify and forecast forest fires. When there is a notification of forest fire forecasting at levels III, IV, V, agencies, units and forest owners will proactively and promptly deploy appropriate and effective forest fire prevention and control measures. In 2023 alone, the whole province detected 10,375 fire points from the Forest Fire Warning System of the Forest Protection Department, providing 149 suspected forest fire points for the Forest Protection Departments of districts, towns and cities to organize inspection, verification, prevention and timely handling. Due to good prevention work, in 2023, only 7/75 forest fires occurred in the province, causing damage to forests, with a total burned forest area of 2.94 hectares in 5 districts: Tua Chua, Muong Nhe, Nam Po, Muong Cha and Muong Ang. Of which, the area of production and protection forest fires was 0.37 hectares; the DT2 forest fire, which is being invested in natural regeneration, was 2.57 hectares.

Thanks to the synchronous implementation of many solutions, the PCCCR work has brought about efficiency; contributing to the strict management and protection of 419,756.7 hectares of forest in the province; increasing the forest cover rate in 2023 to 44% (an increase of 0.46% compared to 2022). In order for PCCCR work to achieve more positive results, it is hoped that each level, sector and each person will continue to raise their vigilance, proactively equip equipment, human resources and be ready to fight fires when a situation occurs; thereby contributing to improving the effectiveness of PCCCR work in the province in the coming time.

Source