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Badly equipped soldiers succumb to wildfire
By Zhang Xuanchen |
December 9, 2010, Thursday
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Online Edition
Online Edition
A SOLDIER said that due to lack of funds, they had long been using mops and brooms to fight grassland fires including the one that killed 22 people and injured four others on a plateau in Sichuan Province last Sunday.
Hou Xiaowei told Beijing News that he led a team of 62 soldiers armed with housework tools -- mops, brooms, water buckets and shovels -- to put out the wildfire raging on the grassland 60 kilometers away from the county seat in Daofu County, Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Garze last Sunday night.
Usually some skillful flaps with water-soaked tools are enough to contain the fire scorching an area just about 30 hectares, a frequent occurrence in the dry and windy season from November to May, Hou said.
But this time, the fire on the steep hillsides was not what Hou's team could handle. Shortly after it was contained, the blaze leapt up again, fanned by a strong wind and spread swiftly, trapping Hou's team and other rescuers who arrived later, Beijing News reported today.
Hou's team was reinforced by a group of about 30 workers from the local forestry department using steel rods topped with a bunch of 20 plastic strips.
Hou said only specially trained forest police are equipped with professional tools such as wind extinguisher and fire-fighting grenade. But they didn't arrive before the blaze burnt the 22 people to death.
Hou said the county has received 3.69 million yuan (US$554,330) from the Ministry of Agriculture for fire control purpose two days after the deadly blaze. The county with 417,000 hectares of grasslands never had professional firefighting equipment due to its lack of fund.
Hou Xiaowei told Beijing News that he led a team of 62 soldiers armed with housework tools -- mops, brooms, water buckets and shovels -- to put out the wildfire raging on the grassland 60 kilometers away from the county seat in Daofu County, Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Garze last Sunday night.
Usually some skillful flaps with water-soaked tools are enough to contain the fire scorching an area just about 30 hectares, a frequent occurrence in the dry and windy season from November to May, Hou said.
But this time, the fire on the steep hillsides was not what Hou's team could handle. Shortly after it was contained, the blaze leapt up again, fanned by a strong wind and spread swiftly, trapping Hou's team and other rescuers who arrived later, Beijing News reported today.
Hou's team was reinforced by a group of about 30 workers from the local forestry department using steel rods topped with a bunch of 20 plastic strips.
Hou said only specially trained forest police are equipped with professional tools such as wind extinguisher and fire-fighting grenade. But they didn't arrive before the blaze burnt the 22 people to death.
Hou said the county has received 3.69 million yuan (US$554,330) from the Ministry of Agriculture for fire control purpose two days after the deadly blaze. The county with 417,000 hectares of grasslands never had professional firefighting equipment due to its lack of fund.
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