A blaze that has burned 110,000 hectares of forest in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province was started late on Saturday on a Nenjiang County forest farm when workers tried to create a fire prevention belt, according to an anonymous source quoted by today’s China Daily.

Up to 4,500 firefighters are tackling the fire in the Greater Hinggan Mountains, one of China's major forest zones, which has so far destroyed 30 houses in northern parts of Huma County, affecting at least 140 locals.

It was reported to have been almost stopped from spreading further, with large areas extinguished.

At one point it also threatened three other forest farms linking 25 towns and villages in the mountain area, said local sources.

Trees and grass are regularly burned to create isolation belts to prevent massive forest fires, but a change in direction of strong winds gave the weekend’s prevention effort a disastrous turn.

Local authorities have urged all forest farms to give up this method of fire prevention.

Vice Premier Hui Liangyu ordered forestry authorities to muster enough forest police to put out the fire as soon as possible, according to a the State Forestry Administration source yesterday.

The administration’s deputy director, Lie Jiafu, led a working group to the disaster area, and the provincial vice governor, Liu Xueliang, was also there.

(China Daily October 26, 2005)