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Deadly forest fire in SW China extinguished

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-02-03 17:17

A forest fire in southwest China's Yunnan Province was extinguished early Tuesday after burning more than 10 km and claiming one life.

The fire started Monday around 1:30 p.m. in Sanjia Village which is about 60 km from Kunming City, the provincial capital.

Zhang Yong, who is in charge of publicity with Kunming City Forest Detachment of the Armed Police, said the fire was brought under control by 11 p.m. Monday and put out by 5 a.m. Tuesday.

No homes or farmland were burned, just uninhabited forest.

One fire official was killed while fighting the blaze. Li Kunpeng, director of the office for fire prevention with the forestry bureau of Jinning County, went alone to inspect fire lines Monday.

The 37-year-old's charred remains were found later that afternoon.

Li joined the Jinning county forestry bureau in 1988. Before he became chief of the office for fire prevention in 2005, he was in charge of the fire fighting team with the forestry bureau.

No other casualties were reported.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation.