A wildfire broke out in Hoàng Liên Sơn National Park in the northern mountainous province of Lào Cai has been put under control. VNA/VNS Photo Quốc Khánh

LÀO CAI — A wildfire that burned approximately 30 hectares of forestland in Hoàng Liên Sơn National Park in the northern mountainous province of Lào Cai has been brought under control, the provincial authorities said on Wednesday afternoon.

The authorities stated that currently, there are only a few small scattered fire points remaining.

According to preliminary statistics, about 30 hectares have been damaged, including four hectares of replanted forest and the remaining 26 hectares of primarily natural forest with low reserves, shrubs, grasses, and ground cover vegetation.

The largest and most challenging fire point was in the Nà Háng area towards the Dền Thàng Village in Tả Van Commune, as it was located on a steep rocky mountain slope with virtually vertical incline, and a deep ravine below, consisting entirely of shrubs, regenerating trees, and dense ground cover vegetation, making it inaccessible for direct firefighting.

Throughout the night of Tuesday to the early morning of Wednesday, the fire was still smouldering on the high rocky mountain slopes in the Dền Thàng Village area – a location posing a risk of spreading into the core forest area of Hoàng Liên Sơn National Park.

Firefighting forces from the province and Sa Pa Town had established firebreaks around the fire area and deployed personnel to stand guard and monitor the fire throughout the night, reporting to the provincial command every hour to ensure the fire did not spread into the core area of Hoàng Liên Sơn National Park.

Early on Wednesday morning, the firefighting forces divided into two teams to extinguish the fire points.

Team 1, led by Colonel Nguyễn Văn Đô, deputy chief of staff of the Provincial Military Command, and Nguyễn Quang Vĩnh, deputy director of the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, moved towards the Dền Thàng Village to address the main fire point.

Team 2, led by Forest Protection Teams from Bản Hồ and Tả Van communes, moved along the route from the Séo Mý Tỷ kindergarten to re-treat the smouldering tree stumps and remaining ashes.

At 9 am on the same day, the authorities had controlled the last fire point in Hoàng Liên Sơn National Park.

Previously, on Tuesday evening, two out of three major fire points in the park had been controlled, including the fire point towards the residential area of Séo Mí Tỷ village in Tả Van Commune and the fire point in the Nà Háng area towards the Hàng and San 1 villages in Hoàng Liên Commune.

According to Chairman of the People's Committee of Sa Pa town Tô Ngọc Liễn, the cause of the fire remains unidentified, and the loss has not been assessed yet. VNS