Fires blaze around Chongqing as extreme heat scorches region
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•At least four Chongqing districts report wildfires, forcing evacuation of 1,500
•More than 5,000 rescuers help extinguish fires in the municipality, which is experiencing the worst heatwave in six decades
Extreme heat in China’s southwestern Chongqing municipality has left the city parched and several mountains ablaze.
At least four districts have reported fires since Thursday, forcing 1,500 people from 540 households to be evacuated.
The latest blaze broke out in Banan district on Sunday, while another in Jiangjin district that had been burning since Thursday was not put out until Monday morning.
“That’s terrible. When I wake up, my home is full of soot,” said a Weibo user who said they lived 37km (23 miles) from a fire on Jinyun mountain in Beibei district that broke out on Sunday.
“The air is very turbid and thick with smoke, and the sky appears light red in the distance,” said another Weibo user who said they worked in Chongqing’s urban core.
The government attributed the fires to “continuous high temperature and drought” in a statement on Monday morning.
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More than 5,000 rescue personnel and seven helicopters were deployed to extinguish the fires. By Monday morning, they had been effectively suppressed and no casualties had been reported, according to a statement by the Chongqing municipal government.
“Rescue work, clean-up of the residue fire, investigation into the cause and review of the burned area have been carried out in an orderly way,” the statement said.
Because of the high risk of wildfires, the municipality – China’s largest in area – has sealed off mountains in its 38 districts and counties to strictly control fire sources.
On Sunday, a bushfire also broke out in Luzhou city in neighbouring Sichuan province, which is also experiencing a heatwave, and spread to Chishui city in Guizhou province. The fires have been controlled and no casualties have been reported.
Chongqing, along with some southern provinces, is experiencing China’s worst heatwave in six decades. As many as 66 rivers and 25 reservoirs across the municipality have run dry amid extreme hot weather and drought.
Most districts had temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius, with Beibei district recording 45 degrees on Thursday – the highest temperature ever recorded in Chongqing.
Last week, the municipal government said more than 800,000 people had been affected by the heatwave, and nearly 270,000 had difficulty accessing drinking water.
The central government sent drought relief supplies to the city on Sunday, including petrol generators, diesel generator sets, water pumps and other equipment valued at 11.67 million yuan (US$1.7 million), state broadcaster CCTV reported.
China’s national observatory on Monday issued its 11th red alert for high temperatures – the most severe warning in a four-tier system – for some parts of the country, including Chongqing. The region’s long hot spell is expected to ease from Wednesday as a cold front moves south, with Chongqing expected to see relief from Friday.
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