More than 10,000 firefighters were trying to put out a fire that was engulfing a forest on the Greater Hinggan Mountains in the northeastern Heilongjiang Province, local authorities said Sunday.
The fire broke out at about 9 a.m. Saturday as a result of lightening, according to the firefighting headquarters of Greater Hinggan Mountains.
It had been surrounded by firefighters as of Sunday morning, officials said.
They refused to give more information like the size of the forest affected by the fire.
Heilongjiang reported a forest fire earlier this April, when one firefighter was killed and four others were injured. The fire affected more than 20,000 local residents and ravaged 20,000 hectares of woods.
(Xinhua News Agency May 18, 2009)
