Recently authorities held a meeting to analyse the causes of fierce blazes that ripped through Hoang Lien National Park.

During the morning of March 2, Lao Cai Province police in coordination with relevant agencies met to try and uncover the reasons behind the blazes. Authorities investigated the site of the fire trying to gather details to provide some answers.

According to Senior Colonel Giang Ly Phao, Vice Manager of Lao Cai Police, the fire's development was quite complicated because it’s difficult to access the burned areas and the scale of the fire was so large that it may take several days to complete their investigation.

On February 8, there was a fire at the boundary of Den Thang Hamlet, Ta Van Commune and Ta Trung Ho Hamlet, Ban Ho Commune, Sa Pa District. Then strong wind brought the fires to Ma Quai Ho, Seo Trung Ho Hamlets and many other areas in the jungle.

Despite efforts to extinguish the fierce blazes, they kept spreading. Finally, on the afternoon of February 11, they were put to an end.

According to Pham Van Cuong, Vice Chairman of People’s Committee of Lao Cai Province, there was another fire at the boundary of Lai Chau Province on February 12. This area contains old trees and as high as 2,300 metres. On February 15, it was extinguished thanks to the continuous efforts of many people including locals, fire fighters and the army.

However, the total amount of burned area remains a question and the exact cause of the fire remains unknown..

At the meeting on February 26, Phan Duy Hanh, Manager of Department of Agriculture & Rural Development said that it’s difficult to find solutions for fire prevention and identify responsibilities of each individual if the cause of the fires cannot be revealed.

Also, as part of the meeting, Ma Quang Trung, District Party Committee Secretary of Sa Pa said that, "It can't be determined with certainty that local people burning fields for land cultivation caused the blazes. The fires occurred near Tet and burning is a longstanding tradition. “If the fires were caused by humans, the reason is that they were careless."

If there’s no long term solution, it will be difficult to avoid blazes in Hoang Lien (Photo by H.Ngan)

”80% of fires are caused by careless actions when local people burn fields for land cultivation because they live in the forest and work at the fields located right at the forest’s heart,” said Trung.

Agreeing with Trung, Pham Xuan Dang, Manager of the park recommended that it should grow hard-to-burn trees and build water tanks as well as strengthen forest protection teams.

Mai Dinh Dinh, Vice Manager of Natural Resources & Environment of Lao Cai Province, also added that it’s necessary to pay attention to biological diversification when restoring the forest.