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Damage control: A canal is dug in an attempt to curb the spread of a wildfire that is devastating the U Minh Thuong National Park. — VNA/VNS Photo Trang Duong

All hands on deck as forest fire rages on

KIEN GIANG — A concerted effort has been mounted by the fire brigade, the military and general public to try and save 4,000 hectares of newly-planted trees from a fire that has been raging in the U Minh Thuong National Park for the last ten days.

As of Thursday afternoon, the fire had reduced more than 4,000ha of Viet Nam’s virgin cajeput forest to ashes.

Experts said temperatures in the heart of the U Minh Thuong forest had soared to 50 degree Celsius, and reached thousands of degrees in the smouldering muddy coal layers.

They said one of the reasons that efforts to extinguish the fire have failed for the past three days is that the cajeput forest has a thick layer, about 0.5 to 1.5 metres, of coal that can catch fire easily and burn for very long periods.

Unlike forest fires in other areas, the sight of smoke and flame here means that the roots and lower trunks of cajeputs have caught fire even as their canopy remains green. This makes it difficult to spot the fire early.

Digging ditches around the burning areas is the only way to prevent the fire from spreading to newly-planted areas in the forest.

A Government delegation including representatives from the ministries of National Defence, Public Security, and Agriculture and Rural Development arrived at the site on Wednesday to directly oversee fresh efforts to put down the fire.

Thousands of fire fighters from the police, forest rangers, the armed forces and local people have been mobilised to join the fire-fight.

An additional 200 soldiers from Military Zone 9’s Division B30 in nearby An Giang Province were called up on Thursday morning, and fire fighters from 15 southern provinces marched all night Wednesday to show up in the area.

The prolonged drought that hit southern provinces in the last month severely limited the availability of fresh water for extinguishing the fire, forcing people to use salinated water instead.

This would dramatically change the local ecology, the experts said.

A directorial board headed by Truong Quoc Tuan, chairman of the Kien Giang provincial People’s Committee, has been set up to co-ordinate the fight, ensuring that sufficient equipment and personnel are deployed.

Tuan has called for the number of water pumps to be increased so that there is one placed every 50 metres on the nearby canal. As of now, only half the 120-140 pumps deemed necessary for the fire fight are in use.

Fire-fighters and volunteers have been asked to protect the 7km Xung Dang Canal, creating a safety belt for areas where the forest has been regenerating.

The military has been in the forefront of the fire fight.

"When we reached the forest management station and heard about the fire, we started working right away although we had just returned from a long trip from Ha Tien Island," said Major Nguyen Thanh Tam, head of Regiment 20’s fire fighting department.

Military units including the Regiment 20 and Military Zone 9 have succeeded in dredging five kilometres of the canal.

The destruction of 200ha of 20-year-old cajeput trees has affected a VND60billion ($4million) - project planned to commemorate outstanding historic achievements of heroes in the U Minh Thuong Base during the national resistance war against enemies.

U Minh Thuong Forest is ranked the world’s second richest and largest mangrove forest after the Amazon forest.

As many as 8,000ha of virgin forest remained standing in U Minh Thuong after the nation’s prolonged independence wars, making it a treasure trove for environmentalists and ecologists. — VNS