Improving forest protection efficiency through fire prevention and fighting drills

Professional firefighters participate in fighting forest fires.

As a commune with a large forest area in Dien Bien district with over 8,500 hectares of protective forest and about 3,200 hectares of production forest, Muong Loi commune is also known as a place with a very good tradition of forest protection. To improve the effectiveness of forest protection, Dien Bien district has chosen Muong Loi commune to organize forest fire response and search and rescue drills.

In a hypothetical situation, people were clearing grass and burning the ground cover to make fields, not following the regulations, causing a fire to spread to the protective forest area in Loi village, Muong Loi commune. More than 260 officers, militia, reserve forces, forest rangers, police, military and people were mobilized to participate in fire fighting and rescue.

According to Mr. Dao Van Trong, Secretary of the Muong Loi Commune Party Committee, although the exercise was rated as good, the actual exercise also pointed out limitations such as: the actions of the commune mobile unit to the forest fire fighting location were still slow; awareness in handling situations was not high in the actual part. This is also a lesson for the functional forces, government and people in the commune to learn from experience, promote the implementation of the "4 on-site" motto, strengthen coordination between forces in the area as well as consolidate forest fire fighting skills for forest fire prevention and fighting teams and people in forest areas... Through the exercise, timely supplementing forest fire prevention and fighting plans close to the actual situation of the locality.

Mobilize forces to participate in responding to forest fires at the scene.

Last November, a district-level forest fire response drill was organized by Dien Bien Phu City in Thanh Minh Commune with 2 phases: organizing forest fire response preparations (mechanism part) and practicing forest fire response, search and rescue (real combat part). For the mechanism part, the Forest Fire Prevention and Fighting Command of Dien Bien Phu City organized conferences to assess the situation, adjust the forest fire response and search and rescue plan; assign additional tasks, organize coordination, and deploy measures to respond to forest fires and search and rescue.

In the practical part, the simulated situation of people burning down fields caused a fire in natural forests and planted forests in sub-region 717, Pung Tom village, Thanh Minh commune. The exercise mobilized more than 600 cadres, people, militia, self-defense forces, and reserve forces; full range of firefighting equipment, including 5 fire trucks of the Fire Prevention and Fighting Police Department (Provincial Police). The Forest Fire Prevention and Fighting Command of Dien Bien Phu City carried out 2 training issues: Using local forces of Pung Tom village and local forces of Thanh Minh commune to practice forest fire fighting, evacuating people's property from dangerous areas; the city's reinforcement forces coordinated with local forces of Thanh Minh commune and forces stationed in the area to practice forest fire fighting, search and rescue, and overcome consequences.

Forces participating in a forest fire fighting and search and rescue exercise in Muong Loi commune.

According to statistics from the Provincial Forest Protection Department, since the beginning of the year, the whole province has organized 7 forest fire response and search and rescue drills at the commune level and 2 at the district level.

Mr. Tran Duc Quyen, Deputy Head of the Forest Management and Protection Department, Provincial Forest Protection Department said: Through the drills, it helps to raise awareness, vigilance and responsibility for forest fire prevention and control; improve capacity in directing, commanding and coordinating operations in handling forest fire incidents, requiring the participation of many forces and localities. Participating in the drills helps forces become familiar with and proficiently use the tools, machinery and equipment for forest fire fighting that are equipped.

With more than 415,000 hectares of forest, due to the impact of climate change, Dien Bien is an area that always has a high risk of forest fires. In 2023, out of a total of 75 forest fires occurring in the province, 7 caused forest damage, with a total burned forest area of 2.94 hectares. Therefore, organizing forest fire prevention and fighting drills is extremely important in ensuring forest fire prevention and fighting safety; raising awareness of officials and people and further strengthening coordination between levels, sectors and forces. This is also an opportunity for localities to review, supplement and perfect fire prevention, fighting and forest protection plans in accordance with the actual situation in the locality.

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