Rocky mountain natural forests are at high risk of fire due to drought and burning of vegetation.

Photo: A fire in Quang Chu commune (Cho Moi) on March 22, 2025.

Bac Kan province has a planned forestry land area of ​​417,539 hectares, accounting for 86% of the total natural area of ​​the province, of which the natural forest area is more than 271,180 hectares, planted forest is 103,428 hectares, forest coverage reaches 73.28%, the locality has the highest forest coverage rate in the country. Since the beginning of the year, the whole province has had very low rainfall, dry forest land and vegetation, with a very high risk of forest fires. Local people live mainly on the forest economy, in which forestry production activities take place every day.

Mr. Nguyen Huu Thang, Head of the Bac Kan Provincial Forest Protection Department, shared: Forest protection and fire prevention is a big challenge for the Forest Protection Force and localities. The risk of natural forest fires is very likely to occur from the treatment of vegetation. Most production forests in many localities border natural forests, just a mistake in the treatment of vegetation can cause fires and unpredictable damage.

Since the beginning of the year, there have been 11 fires in the province covering an area of ​​55.1 hectares, of which more than 8.7 hectares of forest have been damaged. The main cause of forest fires is the use of fire in the forest that does not comply with forest fire prevention regulations.

The consequences and damage caused by forest fires are huge: loss of forests, having to mobilize a large number of forces and vehicles to participate in fire fighting, and even people have died while fighting forest fires.

To do a good job of forest fire prevention and fighting, it is necessary to consider "prevention as the main thing", and synchronously implement measures such as: Proactively and promptly detect fire spots to have timely and effective fire fighting measures, avoiding large fires; recommending that people absolutely do not use fire in the forest when the weather is hot, dry, or windy... People play a very important role in detecting and reporting forest fires. When detecting a forest fire, people need to promptly notify the village chief, the commune People's Committee and the nearest Forest Ranger Station to mobilize forces and means to fight the fire in time, not allowing the fire to spread.

Local leaders are responsible for mobilizing forces and means to participate in fighting forest fires occurring in their locality. When a forest fire is detected in the locality or in the border area, promptly inform the other locality to promptly deploy fire fighting work. It is necessary to arrange specialized forces for forest fire prevention and fighting at all levels. Provide adequate forest fire prevention and fighting tools and equipment for the base to effectively organize and implement forest fire prevention measures and respond promptly when a forest fire occurs.

Recently, dozens of forest fires have occurred in the province, some of which have caused human casualties.

When a forest fire occurs, it is necessary to promptly implement a firefighting plan according to the "four on-site" principle: On-site command, on-site forces, on-site means, and on-site logistics. Firefighting by parallel method: Arrange the firefighting team to stand back, parallel to the direction of the spreading fire, at a distance where the heat of the fire does not affect the firefighters, to carry out the measure of clearing white fire barriers right in front of the windward direction. This measure is used when the fire is of moderate intensity. The advantage of this method is that it allows firefighters to work back a distance from the heat of the fire, with less fatigue. Special attention should be paid when implementing the parallel firefighting technique when the fire is continuously moving in the direction where people are clearing fire barriers. Once the fire barriers have been cleared, proceed to burn the branches, grass, and bushes on the side where the fire is spreading. At the same time, on both sides of the fire, arrange firefighting teams to control and prevent it from spreading to neighboring areas./.

Tran Tuyen

Source: https://baobackan.vn/rung-tu-nhien-nui-da-co-nguy-co-chay-cao-do-han-han-va-dot-thuc-bi-post70391.html