A forest fire in Jinggang Mountains in east China's Jiangxi Province, a former revolutionary base, was put out Tuesday night, officials of the provincial forest fire prevention bureau said Wednesday.

Around 3:00 p.m. Monday, local residents reported dense clouds of smoke rising from the virgin forest of the mountains.

Over 1,400 forest policemen and local residents were organized and sent to the site to put out the fire.

After nearly 32 hours work, the fire was finally extinguished at 10:30 p.m. Tuesday and nearly 0.67 hectare of forest were destroyed.

Meteorologists and officials said the fire was probably caused by lightning strike as thunderstorms hit the areas before the fire broke out.

No casualties were reported, said Wu Min, secretary of the Jinggangshan City Committee of the Communist Party of China.

The Jinggang Mountains cover an area of 660.87 square kilometers and many of the peaks have an elevation of 1,000 to 1,500 meters. Dubbed as the cradle of the Chinese revolution, the mountains were the backdrop to the history of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (1928-1937) led by the Communist Party of China.

More than 7,000 hectares of virgin forest are scattered over the mountains, which boasts a forest coverage rate of 86 percent. The mountains are home to more than 3,800 varieties of plants and 1,108 species of animals.

(Xinhua News Agency July 30, 2003)