China reports fewer forest fires for Q1

China saw a drastic drop in the number of forest fires in the first quarter of this year, according to the Ministry of Emergency Management (MEM) on Thursday.

The country reported 392 forest fires during the period, far fewer than the average of 1,035 accidents recorded in the past five years, Zhou Xuewen, vice minister of the Ministry of Emergency Management (MEM), told a press conference.

Only 13 forest and grassland fires were reported nationwide during the past Tomb-sweeping Day holiday from April 4 to 6, down 83 percent from last year, Zhou said.

As more than 97 percent of forest and grassland fires were caused by human activities in the past 10 years, Peng Xiaoguo, chief of fire disaster prevention and control division with the MEM, attributed the notable drop in the number of forest fires to residents' fewer outings amid the country's fight against the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) epidemic and intensified fire prevention efforts.

Also, the national forest and grassland fire control command office on March 15 launched a three-month specialized campaign to spot fire hazards in the wild.

By Sunday, authorities across the country had sent 76,000 inspectors and detected 52,000 fire hazards, Peng said.