Proactively plan early
The annual dry season is considered a sensitive period for cajeput forests in Ca Mau. Prolonged hot weather, strong winds, and dry ground make the risk of forest fires always high if not strictly controlled.
Ca Mau Department of Agriculture and Environment said that the whole province has about 148,196ha of forest land, of which more than 45,800ha of forest is likely to catch fire in the dry season. Faced with this risk, functional sectors and forest management units have early deployed forest fire prevention and fighting (PCCCR) plans.
At U Minh Ha Forestry Co., Ltd., the transportation system in the forest area is invested with more than 107km of asphalt and reinforced concrete roads, allowing 5-ton trucks to circulate conveniently. Roads connecting the centers of communes with inter-sub-zones such as U Minh I, U Minh II, Song Trem, 30/4 and Tran Van Thoi, helping functional forces easily access when incidents occur.
Currently, the entire forest area has 74 fire watchtowers, including 65 solid towers and 9 temporary towers, maintaining 24/24 hour duty throughout the dry season. The PCCCR force is organized into 75 groups and teams with 516 people ready to be on duty according to the "4 on-site" motto.
Along with that, propaganda, professional training and PCCCR safety inspection are strengthened; fire fighting equipment is maintained and maintained regularly to ensure readiness when situations occur.
Strengthening protection of key areas
At the Bac Lieu Special-Use - Protection Forest Management Board, PCCCR work is being implemented to protect the safety of the special-use forest, including the Bac Lieu Bird Garden area.
The unit currently deploys a fire prevention and fighting force of 18 people, along with many equipment such as specialized fire extinguishers, a spray nozzle system about 1,400m long, water pumps, vegetation cutting machines and fire extinguishing tools. In addition, a water storage station and water supply pillars are also arranged in the forest to serve firefighting.
Some areas such as Section 2 and Section 3 are identified as having a high fire risk due to dense forest trees and abundant vegetation. To proactively respond, the unit proceeded to clear roads serving firefighting, about 2,000m long and 2m wide, mainly clearing vines and shrubs to limit flammable materials.
In addition, the Vườn chim embankment area bordering industrial shrimp farming households, about 4,600m long, has also been cleared of grass and vegetation to prevent the risk of fire spreading into the forest.
During the prolonged hot weather, when the water source in canals and lakes in the forest decreases, the unit operates the water supply system to replenish water into the forests and canals to maintain humidity and reduce the risk of fire.
Proactively implementing forest fire prevention and fighting plans early is considered an important solution to protect the safety of forests during the peak dry season.
