New fire warning comes in SW China as drought lingers in Spring Festival

YUNNAN, Feb 12. (Xinhua) -- Yunnan Province at China's southwestern tip may face a growing fire risk in the upcoming Spring Holiday as strong wind and lingering drought will make it extremely dangerous to use fire in the open country, according to the provincial meteorological bureau.

In a statement released on Thursday, the bureau urged residents who followed the folk custom of worshipping ancestors ahead of the Spring Festival not to burn offerings of fake money in tomb-sweeping.

Fireworks, which legend says will help dispel spirits and bad luck, should not be set off in the off-limits in case of fire disasters in townships and cities, it said. China's Lunar New Year for the Year of Tiger falls upon Sunday.

The bureau also forecasted that dry heat and strong gale would continue during the holiday week starting on Saturday. Both cities and forests face an unusually high fire risk, it said.

In regions covered with relatively high forestation including Lijiang, Wenshan and Dali, wind force could reach at least six grades.

The red-color alarming against drought, the highest of its kind, was maintained, as the province will remain dry for the upcoming week.

When such an alarming was activated, at least 60 percent of grain crops in the affected regions were expected to be drought-stricken. Urban residents could expect water rationing while the water use of high water-consumption companies would be limited.

At an executive meeting of the the provincial government on Wednesday, Governor Qin Guangrong required local meteorological departments to increase artificial rainfalls when weather conditions allow and all relevant departments to work together to prevent fire disasters.

Qin said that about 5.3 million people and 2.95 million herds of livestock were lacking water. "With limited water source and the spread of the drought, more people and livestock would face drinking water problems," said he.

A number of industries with farm produce as major raw materials including tobacco- and sugar-making as well as food-processing have been seriously affected. Some industrial enterprises also faced power shortage due to insufficient supply from hydraulic power plants, he said.

Official figures showed that the worst drought in 60 years has fueled more than 80 forest fires in past three months, with the latest mountain fire on the Mt. Yangmei in the Yi Autonomous County of Shilin destroying 92 hectares of forest in three days and forcing the evaculation of nearly 3,400 villagers.

Local meteorological departments have conducted 305 rain-makings since October, which brought only drizzles and moderate rains to 46 counties.