Plan boosts wildfire fighting capacity
A new national emergency plan for forest and grassland fires has been introduced to boost China’s capacity to fight wildfires and avoid tragedies brought about by authorities’ failures or errors.
Issued by the State Council’s General Office on Nov 23, the plan, which replaces a contingency plan approved in 2010, will serve as a guide in organizing firefighting, rescuing and evacuating people, protecting civilians and important military establishments, transferring important supplies and ensuring social stability.
It grades forest and grassland fires into four levels: general, large, serious and particularly serious.
To avoid problems with access to firefighting equipment and resources in extreme conditions, the plan said a centralized production and allocation mechanism will be set up in response to supply shortages.
To ensure efficacy, fire alarms must reach departments concerned and the public in areas at risk through alarm information platforms, radio, television, newspapers, the internet, official WeChat accounts, and emergency broadcasts, the plan said.
Information about fires and the progress of firefighting should be released in a timely, accurate, objective and comprehensive manner through authorized outlets, news releases, interviews, news conferences, professional institutions’ websites, and official Sina Weibo and WeChat accounts.
To safeguard law and order where a wildfire breaks out, the plan said management of public security and road traffic in fireaffected areas should be strengthened, and those committing any illegal acts must be punished.
When a fire occurs, departments concerned should study the weather, terrain, and environmental conditions and determine whether the fire is threatening populated areas or key facilities vulnerable to major hazards such as nuclear power plants.
State Council hails 43 policy initiatives
The State Council General Office has commended 43 excellent policy initiatives from across the country for representing local wisdom and innovative efforts in tackling social, economic tasks and challenges.
Listed in a circular issued on Nov 20, the policy initiatives were first identified during a recent inspection by the State Council that covered 14 provincial-level regions and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps.
The inspection, the seventh of its kind, was conducted to make sure Central Economic Work Conference requirements and Government Work Report targets and goals are being met.
Most of the commended initiatives are linked to improving people’s livelihoods, optimizing the business environment, expanding domestic demand, securing foreign trade, or COVID-19 pandemic prevention and control.
At the forefront of bolstering employment and foreign trade amid the global financial downturn, Dongguan, Guangdong province, a city known for electronic products manufacturing and assembling, was hailed for upgrading its administrative services for enterprises and effectively securing its major foreign trade markets.
In light of the fight against the novel coronavirus, Hubei province was hailed for carrying out large-scale training, drills and supervision to improve COVID-19 pandemic prevention and control capabilities, while Zhejiang province built a pandemic prevention and control mechanism featuring QR codes, a shared database, platform and index.
To help businesses, Beijing pushed ahead with the streamlining of administration and improving regulation and services to build a world-class business environment, while Zhejiang reduced the time it takes enterprises to gain approval for investment projects, the circular said.
It called on all localities and departments to learn from the commended initiatives.