On the afternoon of May 19, the Military Command (CHQS) of An Giang province organized a conference to evaluate and draw lessons from the forest fire prevention and fighting work in Co To commune that occurred on May 4, 2026.
According to the report at the conference, the fire occurred at about 11 am on May 4, 2026 in the melaleuca production area of Zone A under the management of the Provincial Military Command Forestry Farm, located in Co To commune. Immediately after detecting the fire, on-site forces deployed "4 on-site", and at the same time reported to the Provincial Military Command and mobilized military forces, police, forest rangers, fire police and local people to participate in extinguishing the fire.
During the firefighting process, the forces mobilized many units to participate with a total of 527 turns of people; using 33 specialized fire extinguishers, 120 rolls of fire hoses with a length of about 2,400 meters, 2 flycams, 10 speedboats, boats and many other vehicles and tools. The fire was completely controlled at 5:00 PM on May 8, 2026. Through initial inspection, the fire mainly burned the ground cover, and did not cause major damage to the melaleuca forest area.
The conference also frankly pointed out shortcomings and limitations such as: inspection and fire risk detection work is sometimes not timely; some areas after exploitation still have a lot of dry vegetation; on-site fire fighting equipment is still limited; coordination in handling at the initial stage is sometimes clumsy.
Speaking at the conclusion of the conference, Colonel Vu The Van, Deputy Commander of the Provincial Military Command, requested agencies and units to continue to improve their sense of responsibility in forest management and protection and forest fire prevention and fighting; strictly maintain duty and patrol regimes during the peak dry season; proactively handle weeds, clear areas at high fire risk; and at the same time supplement vehicles and equipment, improve coordination capacity between forces to effectively handle forest fire situations arising.
The conference also drew many important lessons learned in command, operation, force organization, logistics - technical assurance and situation handling coordination, contributing to improving readiness to respond to forest fires in the coming time.
