Extinguished Sichuan forest fire now enters cleanup stage

No open flames were visible at the site of a forest fire in Yajiang county, Sichuan province, at 3 pm on Tuesday, leading to the withdrawal of some members of the firefighting team.

Work at the site has entered the stage of cleaning and guarding, the county's forest fire headquarters said.

After the open flames were extinguished, humus and decayed wood were still smoldering deep inside, posing a risk that strong winds and dry conditions could cause the fire to reignite. That made cleaning and guarding the site of the fire particularly important, the Sichuan Forest Fire Brigade said.

The forest fire broke out at around 5 pm on March 15 near Baizi village and spread to a larger area, driven by a sudden increase in winds that began the next day.

The fire had three main sections, with control made more difficult by unpredictable wind shifts that spread the blaze in multiple directions.

The wildfire created a large amount of smoke. On March 17, helicopters carried out three extinguishing operations when the smoke cleared a little, according to the local government.

Yajiang is located in the south of the Garze Tibetan autonomous prefecture, which has complex terrain with dangerous slopes and deep valleys.

There is no highway at the site and the mountain slope is between 70 and 80 degrees. In many cases, firefighters had to carry materials on their backs.

The Garze prefecture forest and grassland prevention and control command said all 3,396 people living in the county's 11 villages had been safely relocated to eight centralized resettlement areas after the blaze, which had claimed no lives.

The prefecture's emergency management bureau said the fire was caused by the use of fire at a construction site.