Strengthen forest conservation efforts during the dry season.

Forest Protection Department trains forest fire prevention and control - Photo: LA

Dakrong District has a forest area of over 80,560 hectares, including more than 62,400 hectares of natural forest and approximately 18,160 hectares of planted forest, with a forest cover rate of over 65.65%. This period marks the beginning of the hot, dry season, and it's also the time when people begin slash-and-burn farming, clearing undergrowth on the hillsides to prepare for production, thus posing a very high risk of forest fires.

To minimize forest fires, the forest rangers have intensified monitoring and promoted public awareness campaigns on forest fire prevention and control measures. Local authorities in the district have also strengthened forest protection and fire prevention and control task forces, ensuring regular patrols in high-risk areas to promptly detect and handle acts of forest encroachment and unsafe burning of undergrowth.

According to Nguyen Thi Hanh, Chairwoman of the People's Committee of Trieu Nguyen commune, Dakrong district, the locality has a relatively large forest area, totaling over 4,900 hectares. Of this, over 4,500 hectares are natural forest and over 400 hectares are planted forest, with approximately 330 hectares reaching harvesting age. During the dry season from April to September, prolonged hot weather combined with strong southwest winds causes the vegetation to dry out, posing a very high risk of forest fires.

Therefore, to effectively implement forest fire prevention and control in the commune, right from the beginning of the year, the Commune People's Committee has reorganized the steering committee for forest protection and development and the community forest protection teams. They have developed a forest fire prevention and control plan suitable to the local situation according to the "four on-the-spot" principle. They have strictly managed the generation of heat sources in and around the forest; and arranged forest fire prevention and control duty from April to September.

Forest owners are required to take care of their forests before the dry season, and to repair boundary lines and plots to prevent the spread of fire and minimize damage caused by forest fires. Personnel should be stationed at fire watchtowers to maintain continuous and uninterrupted communication. Simultaneously, patrol and inspection activities must be intensified, and close coordination with commune-level forest protection forces is necessary to manage heat sources. Regular inspections, reminders, and signed commitments should be implemented for households harvesting timber from planted forests.

“Thanks to proactive efforts in forest fire prevention and control, there have been no forest fires in the commune in the past three years. In 2024, there were three fires, but they did not cause any damage to the forest. The commune People's Committee also handled one case of violating the law on the use of fire when burning fields, clearing land, and preparing land for reforestation, with a fine of 2.25 million VND,” Ms. Hanh added.

According to Dao Thien Hoang, Head of the Dakrong District Forest Protection Department, to proactively prevent and control forest fires, the unit has advised the District People's Committee to issue a document requesting the People's Committees of communes and towns, agencies, forest management boards, and armed forces stationed in the district to review the forces, equipment, and tools participating in forest fire fighting in 2025 to ensure timely mobilization when forest fires occur.

Review key forest fire risk areas and forest fire prevention and control facilities in the district to develop and supplement forest fire prevention and control plans at all levels that are accurate and realistic. Proactively maintain vehicles, equipment, and tools to be ready for firefighting when forest fires occur; develop schedules and organize forest fire prevention and control duty shifts, ensuring 24/7 readiness during peak hot weather periods, focusing on key areas with high fire risk such as Huong Hiep, Ba Long, Trieu Nguyen, Dakrong, Ta Long, Ba Nang, Ta Rut, A Bung...

In coordination with local authorities, assign forces to be on duty 24/7 during peak hot weather days, and issue forest fire risk warnings from level III to level V. Strengthen patrol and surveillance efforts to detect forest fires early, and be ready to mobilize local forces to handle fires immediately when they occur, preventing large-scale fires.

Raising public awareness and responsibility in forest fire prevention and control; requiring people to absolutely refrain from burning vegetation between 9 AM and 4 PM on peak days with hot weather and forest fire risk forecasts of levels III, IV, and V.

"Local authorities have also reviewed and strengthened 67 grassroots forest protection teams with 663 participants, ensuring readiness for forest fire prevention and control work during the 2025 dry season," Mr. Hoang added.

The province currently has over 276,000 hectares of forest and land planned for forest development. Of this, nearly 57,500 hectares are special-use forests, over 65,100 hectares are protection forests, and over 126,400 hectares are production forests. In 2024, the province recorded 8 forest fires in planted forests, causing damage to over 22.2 hectares and estimated losses of approximately 890 million VND; 27 undergrowth fires occurred without causing forest loss.

According to Phan Van Phuoc, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Environment and Head of the Forest Protection Sub-Department, entering this year's dry season, the Department of Agriculture and Environment has directed the Forest Protection Sub-Department to proactively monitor and forecast weather conditions, warn of forest fire risks, and provide information to localities and the public to implement forest fire prevention and control plans.

Strengthen inspections of forest fire prevention and control work in localities, especially in key areas with high risk and areas where forest fires frequently occur annually. Organize on-call duty and be ready to mobilize forces, vehicles, and firefighting equipment to support localities when large fires occur and when requested by localities. Enhance the application of information technology, GIS technology, and other modern technologies to improve the capacity and quality of forest management and protection, forest fire forecasting and warning, and early detection of deforestation and forest fires.

Monitor forest fire warning information on the Forestry and Forest Protection Department's early warning system to check and detect forest fires early. Forest owners are required to review, develop, and implement forest protection plans and fire prevention and control plans based on the "four on-the-spot" principle, ensuring proactive and timely response when forest fires occur.

Strengthen inspection and supervision of forest fire prevention and control work, with the motto being prevention as the main focus, and firefighting must be carried out early and at the grassroots level; strictly control the use of fire in and near forests by people, especially activities such as slash-and-burn farming and using fire to clear vegetation; promptly prevent and strictly handle acts of using fire that pose a high risk of forest fires, especially during periods of dry, hot weather.

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