The forest fire occurring in Tibetan Autonomous County of Muli,
southwest China's Sichuan Province, keeps raging due to
unfavorable factors such as inconvenient transportation and dry
weather.
No casualties have been reported thus far, said latest
information from the fire fighting headquarters.
The fire started on Monday in Mailuo of Muli County close to the
border of Yunnan Province, south to Sichuan, with
visible flames in four separate venues. The fire has so far
destroyed forests on 500 ha. of land.
Some 2,000 people, including forest patrol police, have been
mobilized to quench the fire. But the fire fighting effort has made
slow headway due to difficulties caused by rugged mountain
roads.
A chief of the fire fighting squad said they might try cloud
seeding to increase rainfall once the weather allows it. Up to now,
cloud seeding workers, plus equipment required for doing so, are
all ready in place for a proper opportunity to execute cloud
seeding.
(Xinhua News Agency April 15, 2006)