Sichuan Yingshan: Preventing Forest Fires and Protecting Greenery

Yingshan County in Nanchong City, Sichuan Province, with its 65,000 hectares of forest land winding like green ribbons and a forest coverage rate of 39.2%, is a land full of vitality. However, it is also on the "front line" of forest fire prevention. Faced with the current high fire risk due to continuous drought, Yingshan County has established a "trinity" prevention and control system of publicity and education, technology - enabled, and drills and inspections, making the green defense line stronger and stronger.

Strengthening Publicity and Education to Weave a Fire - Prevention Net for All

"Actions such as burning straw and littering cigarette butts may seem minor, but if they cause a forest fire, not only will civil compensation be required, but criminal responsibility may also be pursued," said a prosecutor from the Yingshan County People's Procuratorate, who recently went to Huilong Town to conduct a legal publicity campaign on forest fire prevention. Through legal lectures, case - based explanations, and interactive consultations, the campaign aimed to comprehensively enhance the public's awareness of fire prevention and weave a dense safety net for forest protection.

At the publicity booth, materials such as fire - prevention safety manuals, fire - prevention comic leaflets, and legal books such as the "Forest Law of the People's Republic of China" and the "Forest Fire Prevention Regulations" were neatly arranged, attracting many passers - by. The prosecutors, combining their public interest litigation functions, focused on explaining the legal consequences of damaging the ecological environment. They used typical cases of fires caused by improper agricultural use of fire in recent years to warn people with "local cases" and guide them to abandon by luck psychology and establish the safety concept of "no fire sources in the mountains."

"I used to be accustomed to bringing a pack of cigarettes when working in the mountains and throwing cigarette butts casually. Now I realize how dangerous this habit is!" said an elderly villager, Mr. Liu, who admitted that he would change his habit of smoking in the mountains and also actively supervise his neighbors, "I will leave lighters at home and never let fire sources enter the mountains."

Yingshan County has also included forest fire prevention education in the "first lesson of the school term." It has adopted a dual - pronged approach of "going out to publicize" and "coming in to visit," using forms such as watching warning films, knowledge popularization, and quiz competitions to help children deeply understand the principle that "it takes ten years for a tree to grow, but only a few minutes for a fire to destroy it." Since the start of the spring semester in 2025, the county has held more than 30 "first lesson of the school term" activities, covering 90,000 teachers and students. Zhang Bin, the deputy director of the Yingshan County Natural Resources and Planning Bureau, said, "Educating a child can influence a family and affect the whole society. This is the core logic of our publicity and education work."

To truly make fire - prevention awareness Strike root in the hearts of the people, it is essential to make it visible, understandable, and experiential for the public, creating a strong atmosphere of forest fire prevention and protection by all. To this end, Yingshan County has launched a "combination of measures": fully utilizing the opportunities of forest and grassland fire prevention warning days and publicity months, it has carried out the "seven - entry" activities in depth. It has organized more than 250,000 people to watch warning and promotional films, conducted more than 30 township - level itinerate lectures, dispatched motorcycle publicity teams more than 2,000 times, sent out more than 2 million reminder messages, and distributed more than 150,000 fire - prevention materials, striving to create an atmosphere where everyone is a publicist and a fire - prevention officer.

Technology - enabled Construction of a Smart Fire - Prevention System

"An abnormality detected inside the Jingtufosi Temple in Taipeng Mountain National Forest Park! Please verify immediately!" At 10 a.m. on May 7th, in the duty room of the Taipeng Mountain National Forest Park Service Center, the infrared thermal - sensing system showed that smoke was detected in a certain area. The duty personnel quickly dispatched an investigation. Ten minutes later, the patrol team arrived at the scene and confirmed that it was a false alarm caused by tourists burning incense. This close call demonstrated Yingshan County's rapid response capability in "technology - enabled fire prevention." This system, like the "clairvoyant" of the forest area, can accurately capture hot and smoke spots in the forest through infrared thermal - sensing technology, providing strong technical support for early detection and disposal of fire situations and further strengthening the real - time monitoring capability of key areas.

"Welcome to the forest area. All open fires are prohibited..." In the Luojia Mountain State - owned Forest Farm in Gufu Village, Wanglonghu Town, Yingshan County, where towering pines and cypresses reach the clouds, the forest fire - prevention video and voice publicity pole "wakes up" as soon as it senses people entering the mountain, reminding those entering the forest to pay attention to fire - prevention safety.

The author learned that there are 55 such forest fire - prevention video and voice publicity poles in the county, which use infrared sensing technology and are equipped with induction probes. Like sentinels, they stand on the ridges and intersections of the forest area. Whenever there are people or vehicles within the induction range, the system will automatically play forest fire - prevention warning voices, reminding people not to carry fire sources into the mountains and forests and prohibiting smoking, burning paper, and other open - fire behaviors that can easily cause forest fires.

"Buzz - buzz -" A roar breaks the silence of the mountains, and a drone equipped with a thermal - imaging lens takes off from the main peak of Taipeng Mountain. The operator, Li Yongjian, closely monitors the operation screen, with his fingers quickly sliding on the control screen: "This drone has a flight endurance of 40 minutes and can cover an area of 5 square kilometers. Equipped with a thermal - imaging lens and a loudspeaker, it can scan for fire spots in 360 degrees and also shout to remind tourists. The patrol efficiency is five times higher than that of manual patrols." He showed the flight trajectory map to the author, with red lines covering the blind spots of traditional mountain patrols - steep cliffs and deep valleys.

In addition, 575 ecological forest rangers in the county put on red vests, wore red armbands, and carried small loudspeakers. They conduct online patrols using an APP every day, asking everyone they meet, managing every smoke, and checking every fire. Together, they have built an integrated monitoring and early warning system of sky, air, and ground to ensure that fire situations are detected, dealt with, and extinguished in the first place.

Drills and Inspections to Strengthen Forest Fire - Prevention Safety Barriers

"Report! A fire has been spotted on the hillside of Tieding Village, and the fire is spreading!" Recently, at the forest fire - prevention drill site in Xiaoqiao Town, the alarm pierced the sky, and the village - level emergency broadcast immediately sounded: "Attention all villagers, a fire has occurred on the back mountain. Please all irrelevant personnel evacuate quickly!"

The drill simulated a fire point caused by the spontaneous combustion of dead branches due to high - temperature and dry weather, with the fire spreading rapidly. After discovering the fire, the patrol officer immediately reported it to the village command post through the emergency broadcast system. Within 5 minutes, a 20 - person village - level fire - fighting team composed of village cadres, militiamen, and forest rangers arrived at the fire scene with wind - powered fire extinguishers and other equipment, opened an isolation belt, and controlled the peripheral fire. After receiving the alarm, the town fire brigade quickly reinforced with high - pressure water pump vehicles, drones, and other equipment. They suppressed the fire head by combining "water - extinguishing fire" with "mechanical beating." After 30 minutes of joint operations, the open fire was completely extinguished, and the residual fire - clearing team immediately followed up to check for hidden dangers and ensure that there was no possibility of the fire reigniting.

In the drill observation area, a 60 - year - old villager, Mr. Zhang, watched intently. When the firefighter invited him to experience the fire extinguisher, he nervously took the device: "I've only seen it on TV before. This is my first time to touch it." Under the guidance of the firefighter, he held the handle and pressed the switch, and white powder instantly covered the simulated fire basin: "Learning this skill, I can deal with small sparks by myself in the future."

"Since the beginning of this year, all townships and villages in the county have completed at least one forest fire - prevention drill," said Chen Li, the full - time deputy commander of the Yingshan County Forest Fire - Prevention Command. Yingshan County has established a three - level emergency system of "county - level professional team + township - level semi - professional team + village - level volunteer team." It has established a county - level fire - fighting team based on the county fire brigade and eight government - funded fire teams, 28 township - level semi - professional fire - fighting teams based on township (street) emergency teams, and 348 village - level volunteer fire - fighting teams based on village (community) emergency detachments. It has also equipped townships (streets) with fire - fighting equipment such as wind - powered fire extinguishers, relay pumps, and isolation belt - opening vehicles to ensure that they can be called upon at any time, fight effectively when they arrive, and win every battle.

At the same time, each township in the county conducts two forest fire hidden danger inspections per month. This year, a total of 157 forest fire hidden danger have been identified and rectified; 11 hidden dangers of forest fire caused by power transmission and distribution facilities in the forest area have been identified and rectified, with a rectification rate of 100%.

Looking down at the Yingshan land from the air, the mountains are winding and the forests are lush. The mountain wind sweeps over, and the forests make a rustling sound, as if nature is responding to the guardians of this land. From legal publicity in the fields to intelligent monitoring in the clouds, from the "hand - in - hand" in school classrooms to the "combat - ready soldiers" in drill sites, Yingshan is writing a vivid answer to the construction of ecological civilization in the new era with the wisdom of technology, the strength of the people, and the effectiveness of practical combat. (By Peng Chuanheng)