The wildfire that raged across the Dujuan Campground in the No. 52 forest compartment of the Yushan working circle for 12 days was finally extinguished in the morning of May 27. The Forestry Bureau mobilized a total of 113 people, including personnel from the Pingtung, Hualien, and Luodong Forest District Offices, as well as forest rangers to fight the fire. The fire site was located at an altitude of 3,200 meters, it would have taken three days to reach the site on foot. In addition, they lacked water sources. The National Airborne Service Corps of the Ministry of the Interior, the Army Aviation and Special Forces Command, the Air Rescue Group, the Nantou County Fire Department, and the National Rescue Command Center of the Executive Yuan assisted in transporting personnel, spraying water from midair, and providing supplies. A total of 960 land and air personnel, as well as 83 UH-60 and CH-47 helicopters were involved in this mission. After pouring 161 tons of water, the firefighting mission was finally completed. However, more than 70 hectares of the Dashuiku Forest had been ravaged by the fire, resulting in countless tangible and intangible losses. The Forestry Bureau will calculate the land and air disaster relief expenses, afforestation damages, and the loss of forest ecosystem and landscape value in the shortest possible time, and will seek compensation from the five perpetrators without any leniency. The last group of 14 firefighters from the Chiayi Forest District Office who remained at the fire site had been fighting the fire in the high mountain environment for more than 10 days. Due to physical exhaustion, they were picked up by an Air Rescue Group helicopter and landed safely at Chiayi Airport this morning (27). Director General Lin Hwa-Ching of the Forestry Bureau originally wanted to greet the firefighters in person. But in consideration of the pandemic prevention measures that discourage cross-regional movement, he video called Commander Lai Lung-Hui and the firefighting team to send his regards. Firefighting in High Mountains, a Difficult Endeavor with Severely Strained Air Support At around 05:00 in the morning of May 16, the Chiayi Forest District Office received a wildfire report in the Dujuan Campground of Yushan National Park, which is located at an altitude of 3,200 meters. The Chiayi Forest District Office immediately mobilized its personnel and requested the National Airborne Service Corps to transport the first group of personnel to the fire site to carry out the rescue operation. Since the area is a steep valley formed by the Laonung River and its tributaries, the personnel were unable to approach the fire. In addition, the forest environment is mainly made up of coniferous trees such as the Taiwan Red Pine, Taiwan Hemlock, and Taiwan Fir, which have a high resin content, while the ground has a thick layer of pine needles. The forest environment provided the fuel that caused the fire to quickly spread, making the rescue operation extremely difficult and dangerous. The Forestry Bureau also revealed that in recent years, when there is a large-scale wildfire, the Bureau would usually request helicopters to spray water from the air to suppress the spread of the fire first, and then the ground troops would directly extinguish the fire and clean up the residual fire. However, during the Yushan wildfire, there were two other largescale wildfires at Huisun Forest Area and Malun Shan at the same time. The National Airborne Service Corps' Black Hawk helicopters were already severely under strain between the various firefighting sites, and capacity was further stretched to the limit with additional rescue operations of injured hikers. As a result, the National Rescue Command Center of the Executive Yuan requested the Army Aviation and Special Forces Command to deploy CH-47 tandem rotor helicopters to join the mission. However, since fog starts to rise around noon in the high-altitude mountainous areas, they could not meet the standard of visual navigation of helicopters, so the time for helicopter support to spray water was often as short as four hours, with only five trips a day. Most of the times, the firefighting efforts could only rely on ground troops to slowly move towards the fire sites. Creating Key Firebreaks, Forest Rangers Guarding the Frontline Lai Lung-Hui, Director of the Alishan Workstation of the Chiayi Forest District Office, who acted as forward commander of the ground firefighting troops, had led a team to carry out high mountain long-range patrols in Dongshui Shan and Eryu Shan since May 12. They were originally scheduled to come down on the May 16, but after receiving news of the fire, Lai Lung-Hui led the team directly to the fire site. They have only left the mountain after the mission was completed today, and had been strenuously fighting the fire for 16 days without rest. Mr. Lai led his colleagues to the fire site to familiarize themselves with the terrain, observe the changes in relative humidity and wind direction, and determine the direction that the wildfire was spreading. At 05:00 every morning, forest rangers from all teams would go to the fire site to dig and expand the firebreak. Their efforts resulted in a firebreak with a total length of over 1,600 meters and a width of 30 meters. During this endeavor, some rangers suffered from altitude sickness due to the low oxygen levels in the high-altitude mountains. Every day, there were also personnel who suffered from injuries, some even had to be hospitalized. All the personnel had to camp at night surrounded by smoke and a burning smell at temperatures below 10 degrees, which presented a great challenge to their bodies and minds. After a week of hard work by Commander Lai and his team, the main body of the raging fire gradually approached the completed firebreak according to the predicted direction at 11:00 on May 22. To prevent the fire from jumping over the firebreak, the firefighters were divided into groups and stationed along the firebreak on standby for up to two hours. When they confirmed that the fire had stopped at the firebreak and the spread of the wildfire had been successfully controlled, all personnel could not help but shout "We did it!" The personnel of the Forestry Bureau and Chiayi Forest District Office, who were with the firefighting command team, were all moved to tears. After this battle, the spread of the fire was reversed and the fire was gradually brought under control. Rain also fell on May 24 and the fire was finally fully extinguished on May 27. No Leniency in Pursuing Compensation, Be Cautious with Fire on National Forest Lands The wildfire was suspected to be caused by the careless use of fire by five hikers, severely damaging Taiwan's precious forest resources and environment. The Forestry Bureau stated that the perpetrators will be held criminally responsible for the wildfire caused in violation of the Forestry Act, and any follow-up if there is the possibility of disposal of property to avoid prosecution. The 7th Special Police Corps has formally opened a case for an investigation at the Nantou District Prosecutor's Office. The Forestry Bureau has also estimated the costs of disaster relief personnel, aircraft operations, supplies and equipment, afforestation damages, and damages to the forest environment and landscape, and will pursue civil claims against all five perpetrators. The Forestry Bureau also stated that 62 wildfires have occurred on national forest land since January this year, the highest number ever recorded, and almost all of them were man-made. The Forestry Bureau once again urges the public to be cautious when using fire in the mountains, and to not throw away cigarette butts carelessly. If members of the public discover a wildfire, they should immediately call the Forestry Bureau's Forest Protection 24-hour toll-free hotline 0800-000930, or dial 119 to notify the local firefighting unit for rescue operations. Let's prevent wildfires and guard Taiwan's precious forest resources together.
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