Thousands battle fires in Inner Mongolia

HOHHOT - Thousands of firefighters are battling several wildfires raging through forests and grasslands in North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region, the local government said Friday.

Firefighters extinguish a wildfire in the Old Barag banner (county) in North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region on April 20, 2012. [Photo/Xinhua]

More than 1,000 firefighters are fighting multiple forest fires that broke out in the Oroqen autonomous banner (county), sparing no effort to bring the fires under control before Sunday, when high winds are predicted to start blowing across the region.

Another 1,000 firefighters have been sent to fight a fire spreading across the region's northern border with Mongolia.

The fire, which has breached the border in three places, stretched 20 km into Chinese territory at one point as of 10:30 p.m. Friday, according to information from satellite images obtained by the regional meteorological bureau.