Firefighters tightened their grip on a forest fire on Saturday, which has been raging for a week in mountainous region of southwest China's Yunnan Province, Xinhua reported. The provincial forestry administration has confirmed that the fire was ignited by children's play game with a lighter in the forest area of Yuxi City on April 6. The fire has devoured over 466 ha. of luxuriant forests. It once approached the famous tourist resort of Shangrila, known as the country's first national park. A total of 2,200 firefighters and soldiers from the People Liberation Army have been mobilized to battle with the fire. They built a 1,000-meter-long and 100-meter-wide buffer belt to prevent the fire from spreading to Shangrila. A helicopter was deployed to aide the mission on Saturday, which effectively helped contain the fire fueled by dry weather and strong wind. It poured down tons of water on the fire spots, said a spokesman of the fire fighting headquarters.
