More than 3,000 soldiers and policemen have joined the battle against a forest fire in Anning City, Yunnan Province, southwest China.

About 4,000 firefighters on Tuesday had entered their sixth day of battling the blaze. 

So far the service teams from the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) and the Chinese People's Armed Police (PAP) have opened up a belt 50 meters wide and 17 kilometer long to block the fire's spread. 

The fire has already broken through three of these isolation belts and fire fighters are now building a fourth. Two helicopters and about 100 vehicles are being used in the fire fighting operations.  

The fire has already destroyed 7,000 mu (467 hectares) of forest according to the provincial forestry department.

The incident has been difficult to deal with because of a prolonged drought and windy weather, explained those involved in the battle. Residents of a village which is in the path of the fire have been evacuated.

On March 29, at about 16:00, a fire ignited two kilometers away from Wenquan Town and as of April 3 around 466 hectares had been engulfed by the flames. The fire threatened the Xishan Scenic Area of Kunming City, the provincial capital.

"Preliminary investigations suggest it was arson," said Wang Dexiang, deputy-director of Yunnan Provincial Forestry Department. Further investigations are underway.

(Xinhua News Agency April 5, 2006)