Given the weather yesterday, it was unlikely to have been an issue on Tomb Sweeping Day itself this year, but the glorious past weekend in fact gave rise to no less than three forest fires in just one city, as citizens began their ceremonial sacrifices.
Zhenjiang was the scene for the fires this past Sunday, 2 April, with the first reported to local firefighters at 09:22.
The nearest available team was dispatched to find the fire burning halfway up a hill behind Fangjiawan New Village in the City’s Jingkou District. The firefighters had the fire, covering an area of approximately 30 square metres, extinguished in 15 minutes.
The second call to the Zhenjiang Fire Department came in at 12:08; a fire had broken out in Lujiawan of Runzhou District in Zhenjiang. Arriving at the scene, firefighters discovered the ignition point to be a grassy area in the forest.
With weeds as the main combustible, it took Zhenjiang’s finest almost an hour to bring the 200-square-metre blaze under control, reports the Yangtze Evening News.
Sunday’s final forest fire in Nanjing’s neighbouring Zhenjiang broke out at 14:14, in a wooded area next to Bailong Temple in Danbei Town of Danyang City.
Firefighters and rescue personnel were on the scene in 11 minutes, and at 15:25, the 90-square-meter fire was extinguished.
Local police went about their investigations and were later able to confirm that all three fires had been the result of improper extinguishing after Tomb Sweeping Day-related sacrificial ceremonies.
While there were no casualties in Sunday’s incidents, and none of the three fires were particularly extensive, authorities remain concerned over the public lighting fires at will in rural areas.
The Zhenjiang Fire Department reminds the general public when burning incense and fake paper money to keep well away from flammable materials and to clean up residual fires in a timely manner.
