N.China’s Inner Mongolia mobilizes firefighters to prevent grassland fires from spreading across border

Firefighters put out flames along the China-Mongolia border. Photo: Inner Mongolia forest and grassland fire control

North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region has dispatched several groups of firefighters to prevent the flames of a grassland fire in Mongolia from spreading across the China-Mongolia border. A unit of firefighters have successfully put out the fire along the border through overnight fight as of Tuesday morning.

At around 8 pm on Monday, flames from a grassland fire in Mongolia spread to the China-Mongolia border in Xilin Gol League of Inner Mongolia. A team of 140 firefighters were dispatched to the site to intercept the fire, according to Chinanews.com.

After continuous fighting and patrol throughout the night, as of 6am on Tuesday, the grassland fire has been successfully brought under control along the border, with all spot fires extinguished. The firefighters will carry out patrols to ensure that flare ups do not occur, according to the report.

There have been strong winds and dust storms across most of the region, in particular, the grasslands along the China-Mongolia border are dry and flammable. Fires in many places in Mongolia continue to pose a risk, making it difficult to manage the overall situation, Inner Mongolia forest and grassland fire control authorities said via its official Weibo account on Monday.

The regional forest and grassland fire control authorities have activated their emergency response plan, strengthening joint prevention and control with forest and grassland fire-fighting departments. All teams along the border have entered a state of first-level readiness, and fully prepared to respond to all kinds of disaster situations, according to authorities.

In the early morning on Monday, the fire spread to the border with the flames extending to only 4 kilometers away from the border line. A unit of 82 firefighters from Hulun Buir City in Inner Mongolia were immediately dispatched to the frontline, and more than 140 personnel were added on Tuesday and deployed to the site, in order to ensure safety.

In Xilin Gol League, a unit of more than 70 firefighters were sent to ensure the safety of a mountain forest farm, while another batch of 60 personnel were dispatched in Hinggan League.

Mongolia has been fighting against grassland fires in two eastern Mongolian provinces, the country's National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said on Monday, according to Xinhua News Agency. The steppe fire broke out on Saturday in Mongolia.

On Saturday, the first unit of 35 firefighters were urgently deployed to the site of the China-Mongolia border. Until 7:30 pm on the same day, a total of 1.2 kilometers of flames had been doused, and firefighters had covered an area of more than 40 kilometers, according to Inner Mongolia forest and grassland fire control authorities.