Mekong Delta provinces brace for forest fire threats

The region is in the peak dry season and many forests, mostly mangroves, are drying up.

An Giang, Trà Vinh, Sóc Trăng, Cà Mau, Đồng Tháp, and Kiên Giang provinces have raised their warning level to fifth, or “extremely dangerous” and the highest, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s forest protection department.

An Giang increased it to fifth at the end of last month, and has identified nearly 7,370ha of forests facing the threat of fire.

In Bạc Liêu, the province’s management board for special-use forests and protective forests has raised it to fifth for the Bạc Liêu Bird Sanctuary Nature Reserve in the eponymous city.

Forest rangers go through a fire drill at the Bạc Liêu Bird Sanctuary Nature Reserve in Bạc Liêu Province. — VNA/VNS Photo

Spread over a total area of 380ha, it is a national nature reserve and home to 101 bird, 150 animal and more than 100 plant species.

According to Trần Bình Lộc, director of its management board, the prolonged hot weather has withered vegetation and water levels in canals have declined rapidly.

To prevent forest fires, the management board has regularly cleared the reserve of inflammable materials and brought water into canals during high tides.

It has established groups to monitor the forests around the clock and has vehicles and other firefighting equipment standing by.

Kiên Giang has raised the forest fire warning level in Phú Quốc City to fifth and in Hà Tiên City and the districts of Giang Thành, Kiên Hải, Hòn Đất, and Kiên Lương to fourth (dangerous).

Hậu Giang Province raised it from level three (high) to four for all 3,776ha of its forests on April 5.

Đoàn Ngọc Thân, head of its Forest Protection Sub-department, said his agency was forecasting forest fires and inspecting forest protection measures carried out by local authorities and owners.

It was also organising firefighting drills and providing training in fire prevention to rangers and people working for forest owners, he said.

At the beginning of the dry season authorities in the delta’s 12 provinces and Cần Thơ took various precautionary measures such as making fire breaks, ridding forests of inflammable materials, banning the illegal use of fires, increasing patrols of forests by forest rangers and owners, and mobilising firefighting facilities and human resources for fighting forest fires.

The delta has 244,643ha of forests and forest cover of 5.4 per cent.