More than 3 days after the catastrophic forest fire at Nghiem mountain in Hoang Khai commune (Yen Son district, Tuyen Quang), Ms. Ha Thi Dao (born in 1984) is still in shock. While working with the authorities to fight the forest fire, Mr. Dong Dai Cuong (born in 1983, Ms. Dao's husband) never returned.
Ms. Dao recalled: "On the day of the forest fire, the couple told each other to join the people and the authorities to participate in firefighting and protecting the old forests. After participating in firefighting, Mr. Cuong did not return. After a day, the authorities found him. Mr. Cuong passed away, leaving behind his elderly parents and young children. This loss is too great for everyone".
The forest fire that broke out in Hoang Khai commune started at noon on March 21, it took 2 days and thousands of people to mobilize to control the fire. Not only took the life of 1 person, the fire burned down more than 20 hectares of natural forest in the locality.
Mr. Bui Van Canh (Nghim Son village, Hoang Khai commune) said that on the day the fire broke out, he and the people participated in extinguishing the fire for dozens of hours. This is the largest forest fire to occur locally, the fire rose tens of meters high and spread quickly over a wide area. The fire area was mainly itchy forests, conifers, bushes and thick vegetation, combined with strong winds and rugged cat ear rock terrain, making it very difficult to approach and put out the fire.
At the same time, in Trung Yen commune (Son Duong district), a fire broke out at Ong Mo mountain, an area bordering the two provinces of Tuyen Quang and Thai Nguyen.
The authorities had to deploy 4 on-site forces, mobilizing more than 200 people to participate in fire fighting. The initial measure was to clear the runway to prevent the fire. The fire started in Thai Nguyen and spread to Ong Mo mountain area. The fire area has steep mountain terrain, more than 1 hour's walk from the residential area. The dry weather and light winds made firefighting difficult. The fire damaged more than 4 hectares of natural forest.
In Bac Kan province, from March 20 to 23 alone, there were 3 consecutive forest fires in communes and wards of Bac Kan city. From January 2025 to now, the whole Bac Kan province has had more than 10 forest fires that damaged about 40 hectares of forest. The number of forest fires since the beginning of the year has exceeded the total number of forest fires in 2024.
The main cause of the fires was that people going to the forest used fire carelessly, treated vegetation for forest planting but did not monitor, monitor, and burn garbage near the forest, causing the fires to spread.
According to Mr. Ly Xuan Binh - Head of the Provincial Forest Protection Department (Department of Agriculture and Environment), the cause of forest fires is almost clear, all due to human awareness, in order to minimize damage, fire prevention is extremely necessary.
Recent forest fires are a warning for localities to step up propaganda and education of people about the risk of forest fires and fire prevention measures is very necessary.Localities need to promote the dissemination of knowledge of laws and regulations related to forest protection and forest fire prevention and fighting.
When a forest fire incident occurs, localities urgently implement forest fire prevention measures such as building firebreaks, pruning forest trees, and collecting flammable materials.Tightly control the burning of rice fields, fields and activities using fire in forests and along the forest.
According to the Tuyen Quang Provincial Forest Protection Department, there are 56 communes in the province concentrated in Lam Binh, Na Hang, Chiem Hoa, Ham Yen, Yen Son, Son Duong districts and Tuyen Quang city in the level 4 forest fire risk area, level 4 danger.
