By An Puzhong and Sun Shaojian

XICHANG, Apr.2 -- Firefighters continued to battle the forest fire in Xichang city of Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, southwest China's Sichuan Province on April 1. Totally 1,400-odd service members plus militias under the Liangshan Military Sub-command were still in the frontline battling the blaze. As of press time, the overall situation was basically under control.

It was learned from the Combat and Command Center of the PLA Sichuan Provincial Military Command that due to the high temperature and drought in the fire area for many days, as well as the high slopes of the mountains, it was difficult for firefighters to put out the fire, or to keep the flames under control.

At 5:00 a.m. on April 1, the frontline command post of the Sichuan Provincial Military Command decided to increase the firefighting troops to more than 1,400, focusing on three main mission areas. They also dispatched professional rescue equipment such as drones, water pump trucks and tracked water trucks with conveyance pipelines to battle the fire with ground-air coordination.

By 3:00 p.m. on April 1, the open flames at Baihua Gully and Daying Farm had been basically put out. The fire field on the front of Lushan Mountain is about five kilometers away from the Liangshan Yi Society Museum and currently, the service members and the militias were still battling the fire as of press time.

As of 5:00 p.m. on April 1, the forces have evacuated and transferred more than 2,000 people, battled more than 300 fire spots, transported 128 tons of water, dug more than 800 meters of the firebreak, and cleared more than 420 smoke spots.