For many years, clearing vegetation during the dry season has become a regular task for the people of Lúm village. They understand that just a moment of carelessness when using fire can result in dozens of hectares of forest being burned down.

Quàng Văn Thoải, Head of Lúm village, said: The village regularly propagates and reminds residents to temporarily stop burning shifting cultivation fields during peak hot periods. If burning is mandatory, they must notify the village in advance, create firebreaks, and have guards present. The village’s patrol teams maintain regular forest inspections; upon detecting smoke or a fire risk, they immediately report it to the authorities and forest rangers for timely handling.

To enhance responsibility in forest protection, Lúm village has developed its own conventions and regulations on forest management, protection, and forest fire prevention and fighting. The village established two forest protection patrol teams with 16 participating members. During the peak heat of the dry season, the teams alternately assign two people on duty each day to patrol and control key forest areas. The duty schedule is divided equally among members throughout the week to maintain inspections and early detection of forest fire risks or acts of forest encroachment.

A special point in the village’s convention is assigning specific responsibilities to each shift. If a fire breaks out or a forest encroachment incident occurs during an assigned shift, but the person on duty does not detect it first, leaving it to other forces or citizens to discover, that day’s shift will not be credited. At the same time, the person on duty must use their own money to help pay the other members of the forest protection team. This approach helps elevate the sense of responsibility of each member, limiting subjective and negligent mindsets in forest protection patrol work.

Currently, Lúm village has over 600 hectares of forest, of which more than 300 hectares are eligible for forest environment service payments. Every year, the village receives nearly VND 200 million in forest environment service funds. This income helps many households have more resources to buy cattle, production machinery, repair houses, and invest in their children’s education. When forests create stable livelihoods, the people’s awareness of protecting forests is significantly improved. Officials of the Tuần Giáo Forest Ranger District disseminate and mobilize the people of Lúm village, Mường Mùn commune to sign forest protection commitments.

To proactively prevent and fight forest fires during the dry season, local forest rangers have coordinated closely with the commune authorities and villages to organize dissemination, patrols, and 24/7 on-call duties in high-risk fire areas. Along with traditional measures, the application of digital technology is contributing to enhancing the efficiency of forest management and protection.

Local forest rangers regularly monitor the digital forest status map and fire warning points from satellite systems and specialized software. In the field, rangers use smartphones and GPS devices to record scenes and determine the coordinates of areas at risk of fire or forestry law violations.

Nguyễn Văn Hiển, a local forest ranger in Mường Mùn commune (Tuần Giáo Forest Ranger), stated: The application of digital technology has made forest management and protection much more effective. Satellite images and warning software help in the early detection of areas suspected of forest changes or fire risks so that ranger forces can inspect and handle them promptly. Currently, over 80% of violations are detected through satellite imagery monitoring and positioning technology.

From the beginning of the dry season until now, 63 satellite fire points have appeared in the commune. However, through inspection and verification, the fires were primarily caused by people burning shifting cultivation fields and did not affect the forest area.

Mường Mùn commune has identified forest fire prevention and fighting as a key task during the dry season. The commune People’s Committee has developed a forest fire prevention and fighting plan following the “4 on-the-spot” motto, consolidated the commune-level Forest Fire Prevention and Fighting Steering Committee, established grassroots-level patrol teams, and assigned forces for regular duty.

Nguyễn Mạnh Hùng, Chairman of the Mường Mùn commune People’s Committee, shared that the commune has directed villages to step up dissemination, sign commitments with households on forest management, protection, and forest fire prevention and fighting; guide people to clear vegetation and make firebreaks; and increase patrols in high fire-risk areas. Additionally, the commune has equipped firefighting tools such as drones, walkie-talkies, hand-held megaphones, and protective clothing to be ready to respond when situations arise.

However, some remote and isolated areas currently lack mobile phone signals, causing limitations in communicating and reporting when fires occur. A segment of the population remains subjective in using fire when clearing fields, posing a potential risk of fire spreading into the forest during prolonged periods of hot weather.

Faced with complex weather developments, Mường Mùn commune continues to promote direct dissemination to each household; strictly maintains the 24/7 forest fire prevention and fighting duty regime; and intensifies patrols in key areas. Mass forest protection teams continue to be consolidated and trained in firefighting skills; the application of digital technology in forest fire warning and monitoring continues to be effectively utilized.