Chinese Troops Slow Advance of Huge Forest Fire; 114 Dead

Thousands of troops Sunday brought under partial control a raging forest fire that has killed at least 114 people and was continuing to threaten a northeast China city. Officials said the death toll is likely to rise.

The inferno, fueled by high winds and spreading to dry mountain grasslands, gutted a town that once was home to 20,000 people and forced at least 30,000 others to flee their homes, officials said.

More than 10,000 troops, who have battled the flames for five days, have brought the blaze partially under control, a national radio newscast said.

On Sunday, the fire was about 18 miles northwest of the city of Tahe and advancing southeast in a wall of flames 110 miles long, the radio report said.

Ditches Dug Around Town

Troops dug three ditches around Tahe and are “doing their utmost” to defend the city of 100,000 people, the broadcast said. Officials said they were not aware of any evacuation of Tahe.

The fire has killed at least 114 people and seriously injured 96, officials said. Many others were reported missing.

“The situation is very confused, all communications are down and it is very difficult to approach the fire,” said an official at the state-run China News Service.

“We expect the death toll to increase as things become clearer,” he said. “We have no estimates on the number of missing but I’m afraid quite a few will not survive.”

The blaze began Wednesday in the forest-covered Daxingan mountain range in Heilongjiang province, about 800 miles northeast of Beijing near the Soviet border.

“Showers of rain and snow on Saturday have helped to weaken the fire,” said Li Guiling, an official at the Forestry Ministry’s Fire Prevention Department.

He said satellite pictures received early Sunday showed the area of the blaze had decreased slightly to about 125,000 acres.

Fierce Winds Die Down

Fierce winds that sent flames racing through the town of Xilingji have died down, Li said. Most of the buildings in the town of 20,000 people were completely burned, media reports said.

More than 100 air force planes were sent to help with the rescue work and eight emergency medical centers were set up to treat the injured, officials said.

The air force dropped 400 tons of supplies to people stranded by the blaze, which severed all road, railway and wire links.

A Forestry Ministry spokesman said the cause of the fire has not been determined, but it probably resulted from human carelessness.