Photo of the forest fire burning in Zayu county under the city of Nyingchi in Southwest China's Xizang (Tibet) Autonomous Region on October 31, 2021. Photo: CFP

The forest fire that broke out in Zayu county under the city of Nyingchi in Southwest China's Xizang (Tibet) Autonomous Region on October 27 is not yet completely put out as of Tuesday, onsite rescuers told the Global Times, citing steep terrain and high winds. An all-out rescue is underway.

According to media reports on Tuesday morning, the fires on the southern, eastern and southwestern lines have basically been controlled. 

The western line is shrouded in smoke where the fire situation is unknown, despite that the onsite joint command tried to apply drones for aerial observation. The fire on the northern line is slowly developing and is not yet effectively controlled.

Officials from the onsite joint command told the Global Times on Tuesday that the fire on the northern line had previously broken through the second containment zone and that more than 200 firefighters had been sent to the northern line to contain the fire.

Speaking about why the rescue of this forest fire has taken relatively long, the onsite joint command official cited the steep local terrain, the amount of combustible material, the more scarce water sources and the impact of the wind.

"Although the local area is not very high in elevation, the mountain slopes are very steep, with angles basically above 70 degrees, and there are many rolling stones attached to the mountain surface which could endanger the rescuers," the official said, "The vegetation on the mountain is connected in patches, and there are a lot of combustible material such as weeds and shrubs below."

According to the onsite joint command, it was not very convenient to get water from nearby sources at the site of the fire. Also, there are usually high winds in the afternoon, and when the wind picks up, the fire usually burns against the normal trend towards the mountains.

"When the wind blows, the threat to the personal safety of rescuers will be great, so we usually had to suspend rescue in the afternoon."

According to media outlet The Paper, a total of 460 forest fire brigade commanders involved in this firefighting task. On Monday, firefighters fought a total of 1.2 kilometers of fire lines, cleaned up more than 700 points of fire and smoke, more than 210 standing poles of fallen wood, and more than 200 meters of humidification operations.

The fire site is at altitude of 2,400 to 3,500 meters, with a slope of 60 to 70 degrees, and the site is mainly planted with firs, according to the department of emergency management of Xizang autonomous region. There are no gas stations or other flammable venues in the nearby area of the fire.

Currently, there are no reports of specific property damage in the fire. Due to the jumpy spread of the fire, not all of the vegetation in the area was burned.

The cause of the fire is under further investigation.