Forest fires licking several forest zones in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province over the past week had all been put out by 5:00 a.m. Thursday, the provincial forest fire control headquarters announced.

But fire fighters will remain at the former fire sites for at least another 48 hours in order to clean out the sites and be on guard against the slightest signs of potential fire.

The provincial forestry department is still calculating the total areas affected by the fires and the economic loss caused. But experts believe at least 80 percent of the forests at the firesites will survive because a preliminary survey shows the most ravaged plants were all in the marginal areas of the forests.

The headquarters will send surveillance helicopters on patrol above the forest zones in Dahinggan Mountains, Heihe, Yichun and Zhanhe Thursday.

Fire broke out in the forest in Heihe city last Thursday when local forestry workers tried to lit an alarm flame -- a warning signal to prevent forest fires, but the blaze set larger areas of plants on fire than expected, and soon spread to nearby Dahinggan Mountains, Yichun and Zhanhe areas.

More than 12,000 forestry firemen and armed policemen were involved in the fire fighting operation.

(Xinhua News Agency October 21, 2004)