A forest fire raging out of control in central Taiwan that has destroyed 100 hectares of forest could be the worst such fire in eight years, the Taiwan Forestry Bureau (TFB) under the Council of Agriculture (COA) said yesterday.
The fire, which has been burning around Lishan, Taichung County, for 50 hours, has injured six firefighters.
PHOTO: HUNG SHAO-CHIN, TAIPEI TIMES
Arid weather and strong winds have hampered the efforts of more than 1,104 firefighters and four helicopters
The fire is also threatening Formosan landlocked salmon, an endangered species, living in the Shei-Pa National Park's (雪霸國家公園) preservation zone.
The army and officials from the COA have been sent to the area to battle the fire, which started at around 11am on Saturday, according to COA officials.
The fire has burned particularly ferociously because of two types of oily plant, Pinus Tai-wanensis Hayata and Alnus Formosana Makino, that are common in the area, according to a special reaction committee set up by the Executive Yuan.
"The fire is wild. Since the mountain is so steep it takes us three hours to even get the location," said Council of Agriculture Chairman Fan Cheng-chung (范振宗), who was appointed by Premier Yu Shyi-kun to lead the firefighting efforts, at a press conference yesterday.
"It would be considered as a success if we can get the fire under control by tomorrow.
"But without rain, controlling the fire within 10 days is an impossible mission."
The army set up a headquarters at the Wuling Farm (
Forest firefighters of the TFB from Pingtung, Taitung and other cities and counties around Taiwan and firefighters from Taichung city and county have also joined the battle against the fire.
Another 279 firefighters from Taiwan's central and eastern counties will join them today, the National Fire Administration under the Ministry of the Interior said.
Fan said that he was particularly concerned about the safety of the salmon, which exist only in northeastern China, North and South Korea, Japan and this area of Taiwan.
According to the committee, firefighters have been cutting down trees around the preservation zone to reduce the chance of the fire reaching the endangered fish.
The Construction and Planning Administration, which is responsible for the Shei-pa National Park, said it would evacuate the roughly 400 fish if the fire moved closer to them.
The committee appealed to the public not to visit the area to avoid endangering themselves and obstructing the firefighters's work.
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