Nearly 200 people have been trying to control and extinguish the fire that occurred at around 1:00 pm on Wednesday in a national park in the mountainous northern Vietnamese province of Lao Cai.

The fire started in an area near Ta Van Commune, Sa Pa District of Hoang Lien National Park at an altitude of over 1,000 meters above sea level, according to Si Van Cang, a local official.

The flame quickly spread to many nearby areas and was difficult to control due to the hot, dry weather and strong wind, Cang said, adding that the area of affected forest has not yet to be estimated.

About 100 hundred people, including militiamen, police officers as well as local citizens, who were led by Ta Van People’s Committee Chairman Phan Manh Hoang, were dispatched to the scene to put out the forest fire, Cang stated.

Managers of the Hoang Lien National Park as well as the Sa Pa Forest Protection Station have also assigned some 95 people for the extinguishing of the inferno, said Thao A Seng, Head of Sa Pa Forest Protection Station.

The forest protection officers, in coordination with local police and people, have applied several methods to prevent the fire from spreading to other areas.

At 4:00 pm the same day, the flame still has not been put out.

Hoang Lien National Park is a park within Hoang Lien Son Range in the district of Sa Pa, Lao Cai Province, which was established in 2006 by the Vietnamese government.