The Chinese People's Armed Police deployed another contingent of more than 2,000 personnel to combat forest fires in the northeastern Greater Xing'an Mountains yesterday, bringing the total PAP forest squad to 2,850.

　　The groups of policemen and officers, who were transported by helicopters, have been ordered to launch an intensified assault to put out the raging fires.The scattered forest fires started on March 22 in the Greater Xing'an Mountain areas, which had suffered lingering dry spells as a result of scanty rainfall on the northern slopes of the mountains especially since last year, said local officials.

　　Meanwhile, a nationwide teleconference was held yesterday, at which Zhou Shengxian, director of the State Forestry Administration, urged local authorities to give top priority to forest fire prevention and increasing the local people's awareness in guarding against any possible forest fire, as Qingming Festival draws near. It is the traditional festival for worshipping at ancestral graves, which falls on Saturday.