Tech-powered rangers guard China's green fortune

An unmanned aircraft used for fighting fires is displayed at the low-altitude economy zone of the 5th China International Consumer Products Expo (CICPE) in Haikou, south China's Hainan Province, April 14, 2025. (Xinhua/Pu Xiaoxu)

HEFEI, Aug. 27 (Xinhua) -- Forest-rich Anhui Province in east China recorded zero woodland fires in the six-month high-risk wildfire season ending in April, thanks to high-tech tools supporting forest rangers on the front lines.

At the Taiping Lake State-owned Forest Farm in Huangshan City, dozens of high-definition cameras and thermal-imaging lenses keep round-the-clock surveillance for heat and smoke, weaving a dense technological safety net over the forested area.

According to Hu Huangmo, deputy head of the farm's forest resources cultivation section, the monitoring system employs a two-step artificial intelligence (AI) model analysis to filter out false alarms, such as sunlight reflections off village house windows, before sending verified fire alerts to rangers. Each alert comes with precise GPS coordinates and on-site images for swift ground verification.

With this system and other advanced technologies in place, the average time to detect a forest fire in the province has been reduced from 45 minutes with manual patrols to just 12 minutes.

"The system is not simply an extension of our eyes, but scrutinizes possible threats in the forest in a more detailed way," said Cao Lin, deputy director of the forest farm.

Covering more than 70,000 mu (about 4,667 hectares) with complex terrain, the farm had long struggled with the limitations of manual patrols, which leave blind spots on steep slopes and in deep gullies, Cao added.

Once the system detects a suspicious heat source, a drone fleet stationed in the area is immediately sent to the location. If drones spot any illegal fire use, rangers can broadcast warnings through the drone-mounted speakers.

"Our heavy-lift drone can carry and drop nearly 50 kilograms of water bags with pinpoint accuracy, quickly dousing high-altitude fires on cliffs that were once beyond reach," Cao said.

Light drones are dispatched first to assess the blaze and locate the source, followed by heavy-lift drones that accurately deliver firefighting supplies. The coordinated drone fleet thus enables a systematic aerial response to diverse fire hazards, said Hu Changgui, head of the forest fire prevention section of the city's forestry bureau.

The human role, however, remains vital in forest fire prevention. "Drones have their limits. Certain responsibilities still fall to us rangers alone, from discouraging unauthorized burning, carrying out household prevention campaigns, to mobilizing villagers to join firefighting efforts," said Shu Yi, a ranger based in Huangshan District in the city.

Anhui is not alone in applying edgy technologies to protect forests. The growing deployment of smart, diversified applications is now a nationwide phenomenon.

In Shennongjia Forestry District in central China's Hubei Province, satellites, drones and infrared cameras have been woven into a synchronized fire-prevention network, while in Shangrao City in east China's Jiangxi Province, a smart system can detect more than 80 percent of fire incidents within five minutes.

As of March 2026, China's forest area reached 3.614 billion mu (about 241 million hectares), with the forest coverage rate rising to 25.09 percent, making China the world's fastest-growing contributor to global greening. The rate was about 12 percent in the early 1980s, according to official figures.