High winds and dry weather have coalesced to produce some of the most damaging fires to hit Inner Mongolia in recent times.

Below is an article published by China View:

About 3,800 people have been deployed to fight forest fires raging in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, local authorities said on Thursday [17 April 2008].

Firefighters have been struggling to put out two new fires and an another ongoing fire in forest farms in the Bilar River area of the Greater Hinggan Mountains, the region's forestry administration said.

The current damage is unclear.

The administration said the fires were caused by the remains of other blazes for creating firebreaks. Strong winds led to their re-ignition.

The region's forests have been at a high fire risk due to little rainfall and high temperatures in the spring.