A forest fire that has burned 110,000 hectares of forests since October 23 in the Greater Hinggan Mountains in Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province has finally been extinguished.

"No casualties have been reported during the fire. At one point it threatened more than 3,000 square kilometres, stretching for more than 300 kilometres," a forestry official said yesterday at a press conference in Beijing.

Cao Qingyao, spokesman for the State Forestry Administration (SFA), said that by 7 pm on Sunday the week-long fire had been extinguished, thanks to more than 6,300 firefighters and local forest staff.

"They are now clearing up the sites and preventing any dying embers from blazing up again," he said.

Enough food and clothing has been prepared for some 140 homeless locals, he added

The financial impact of the fire is still not known.

The fire was caused by unexpected, force 8 winds when local forestry workers were trying to burn weed to create an isolation belt for preventing such fires.

Due to strong winds, the devastating fires spread to Heihe, a neighbouring city.

The spokesman also announced that a fire during the past nine days along the Sino-Mongolian border has also been fenced off by an isolation belt .

(China Daily November 1, 2005)