A fireman was confirmed dead Wednesday in fighting a forest fire that spread to southwest China's Yunnan Province from neighboring Myanmar, the provincial forest police said Thursday.

Liu Anshu, 21, was an award-winning veteran forest police in Dali Prefecture. He was hit by a falling stone for the sake of rescuing a civilian during a sudden landslide, while clearing ember from the four-day forest fire some 500 meters away from the No. 6 China-Myanmar border stele, according to the police source.

Kong Chuizhu, vice governor of Yunnan, commended Liu's sacrificing spirit.

The fire was basically brought under control Wednesday. About 4,000 forest police, soldiers and local residents are still patrolling in the region to prevent fresh outbreaks.

Two fires broke out in Myanmar last Wednesday. Strong and dry gale blew the fire to the China-Myanmar border on Sunday.

The fire engulfed some 25 hectares of forested areas on the Chinese side.

(Xinhua News Agency February 26, 2009)