Six people killed by fires as Ching Ming Festival sees spike in burnt offerings at family tombs
- Emergency services record over 3,000 fires across the country over tomb sweeping weekend, but number of deaths falls compared with previous year
- Major fires still burning include reignited blaze in Sichuan mountains that claimed the lives of 31 people last week
Six Chinese people died in fires over the holiday weekend, when families traditionally burn offerings at their ancestral tombs, according to the fire and rescue bureau.
There were 3,064 fires reported across mainland China between Friday and Sunday, the bureau told state news agency Xinhua. It is not known where the six people died, or if they were firefighters.
The number of fires increased by around 50 per cent compared with the same period last year, when only 1,991 fires were recorded.
A bureau official blamed the recent dry weather and an increase in people burning offerings in the run-up to the Ching Ming Festival for the surge in fires over the past few weeks.
Over the weekend, more than 1,000 firefighters were sent to battle forest fires in three counties in Sichuan’s mountainous Liangshan prefecture, Xinhua reported.
The locations included the forest in Muli county where a huge blaze that killed 31 first responders a week ago had reignited, the Sichuan emergency management bureau said.
In Muli county, 1,004 emergency rescue personnel, including 350 firefighters, and members of the military were assessing the best strategy to combat the fire, the Liangshan prefecture forest and grassland fire prevention command office said on Monday.