While efforts were still going on to bring the forest fire in northeast China's Greater Hinggan Mountains under control, a new fire was found on Saturday afternoon.

The blaze that started on Thursday has hit almost 540 hectares in the Greater Hinggan Mountains, the country's largest forest zone, despite the efforts of more than 2,600 people and 18 helicopters to extinguish it, according to the regional fire-prevention headquarters.

A new fire was detected in the forest zone on Saturday afternoon, according to satellite remote sensing data obtained by Inner Mongolia regional meteorological bureau.

A 2,000-plus backup team are being sent to the forest zone in the hope of bringing the fire under control at night while the temperature drops and the wind lessens.

The blaze was spotted at about 11 AM on Thursday in an area of virgin forest in the Oroqen Autonomous Banner of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, bordering Heilongjiang Province, said a spokesman with the fire-prevention headquarters.

"The fire started from a pasture. Dry weather and strong winds made it spread quickly," said an official with the headquarters.

(Xinhua News Agency September 23, 2007)