Directive on the Report from the Heilongjiang Provincial People’s Committee Regarding Forest Fires and Firefighting Efforts [1]
(May 1955)

The General Staff Department is to draw up a map and send it to me for review.

Mao Zedong
May 19

--- Notes

[1] Refers to the report submitted by the Heilongjiang Provincial People’s Committee on May 17, 1955, to the State Council, with copies to the Ministry of Forestry and the CPC Heilongjiang Provincial Committee, regarding forest fires and firefighting efforts. The report states: 1. The mountain fires in the Lesser Khingan Range in the Hegang area, after several days of organized efforts involving 20,000 people bravely fighting the blazes, have now been largely extinguished. Personnel are being withdrawn while thorough inspections are conducted to prevent reignition. 2. In the Greater Khingan Range within Huma County, there are three fire sites: one west of the Pangu River and southwest of Lingmuer Station, where 11 fire heads are burning with considerable intensity; another southeast of the Emur River, also with 11 fire heads; and a third southeast of Malun, with two fire heads, one large and one small. The entire fire zone lies between the Yilinggulu River and the Pangu River, stretching approximately 60 kilometers in length and 15 kilometers in width. We are preparing to take all possible measures to combat the fires. In addition to the 450 people already at the fire sites in Huma and 330 en route, with 750 more being mobilized to rush to the scene, we plan to mobilize an additional 1,200 people from Nenjiang and 1,000 from Heihe to proceed to the fire zones.