A forest fire that had been raging for the past five days in the mountains of Kaohsiung was put out yesterday morning, the city’s Fire Bureau said.
The blaze, which was first reported on Wednesday in an area near Gouping Road in Neimen District (內門), spread quickly to the surrounding forests in Shanlin District (杉林), the bureau said.
It took 1,000 people — from the Fire Bureau, the Forestry Bureau, the National Airborne Service Corps and the armed forces, as well as volunteer firefighters — to extinguish the blaze, it said.
Photo courtesy of the Pingtung Forest District Office via CNA
CH-47 Chinook helicopters dumped about 366 tonnes of water on the fire in 10 sorties, it said.
The fire burned about 284 hectares of forest, as the hot, dry weather, coupled with the uneven terrain, made it difficult for firefighters to contain the blaze, the bureau said.
Authorities are investigating the cause of the fire, bureau official Liu Yi-chuan (劉一娟) said.
A major factor in such blazes is typically human activity, such as careless disposal of cigarette butts, fires started to clear farm land and the burning of joss paper, also known as ghost money.
The fire did not damage nearby homes or farms, although six people from three households were temporarily evacuated as a safety precaution, the bureau said.
Firefighters are monitoring the area with drones to watch for possible flare-ups, it said.
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