The status and role of the Forest Force of the Chinese People’s Armed Police Force

The Armed Police Forest Force is a force responsible for the security of more than 160 million hectares of forests, forest and grasslands. Since 1999 alone, they have put out more than 3,500 forest fires and completed more than 23,000 duty tasks, making indelible contributions to the protection of national forest resources.

This force has gradually developed and grown into a modern, professional forest protection team. It has built a three-dimensional forest protection system with "ground, hollow, and air" multi-arms coordinated operations, and has successfully completed the tasks assigned by the party and the people. With the sacred mission of making great contributions to the protection of national forest resources, he is known as the "Protector of the Great Forest".

On August 25, 1948, in order to suppress the remnant bandits and protect the mountains and forests, the then Northeast People's Administrative Committee issued a circular to set up armed forest rangers in Hejiang, Longjiang, Songjiang, and Jilin.

Generation after generation of forest officers and soldiers, they stay with the mountains and the forests. They fought against snow, severe cold, and fire, and spent more than half a century on a long journey to build a steel-like green Great Wall. The Forest Force of the Armed Police performs duties of fire prevention and fire-fighting on more than 160 million hectares of forest and grassland across the country, and has a heavy responsibility. Our country is one of the countries with the poorest forest resources in the world, and its forest coverage rate ranks 130th in the world. Forest fires directly threaten precious forest resources.

“Forest fire prevention is related to the security of forest resources and ecological security, to the safety of people’s lives and property and the harmony of forest areas, to national political security and social stability, and is an important step in building a harmonious society and building an ecological civilization. Guarantee." Jia Zhibang, director of the State Forestry Administration and first political commissar of the Armed Police Forest Force, kept talking wherever he went. The forest troops of the armed police rushed to the front line without hesitation.

From the towering Xing'an Mountains to the high Changbai Mountains, from the vast grasslands to the snowy plateaus, from Caiyunnan to the Wuyi Mountains, on average, at least 400 armed police forest officers and soldiers are fighting on the front lines of fires every day. According to statistics, in the 10 years since the leadership and management system was adjusted in 1999 to 2008, the Armed Police Forest Force deployed more than 1.87 million troops, extinguished more than 3,500 forest fires, and completed more than 23,000 duty tasks.

The fire-fighting model of the Armed Police Forest Force has transformed from a single conventional one to a combination of mechanization and informationization, and from a single ground transportation to a combination of airborne investment and special transportation, and the level of combat effectiveness has continued to rise.

In 2002, the forest troops spent 29 days fighting a forest fire.

In 2006, a fire broke out again in the same area, at the same time, and under similar climate conditions. Thanks to the use of a variety of modern fire-fighting methods, the forest troops won the victory in only 3 days.

The forest troops have continuously increased their investment in scientific and technological equipment. They have completely bid farewell to the primitive fire-fighting method of relying solely on brooms and tree branches, and have formed a three-dimensional, multi-level, and all-round modern combat equipment system, achieving a historic achievement. of crossing.

——Establish more than 50 special teams including water cannon teams, fire-fighting cannon teams, rappel teams, armored teams, and water pump teams, equipped with special fire trucks, armored pulse water cannons, forest fire-fighting cannons, The latest domestic and foreign fire-fighting equipment such as the Beidou-1 satellite positioning system and amphibious radio stations.

——A forest fire early warning and firefighting decision support system that integrates information acquisition, combat effectiveness generation, and organization and command. With just a few clicks of the mouse, it can perform fire analysis, troop formation, geographical background, and fire danger. Meteorological level forecasts, satellite remote sensing monitoring cloud images and other information and conditions are clear at a glance.

——Informatization construction is also extending to the front line of fire fighting operations. Special networks for fire monitoring and weather forecasting have been opened. A 350-megabit ultra-short wave communication network has been established. "Fire scene communication" and "movement communication" are seamless. Links allow unimpeded command between superiors and subordinates, friends and neighbors, and police stations.

Facing the ever-changing fire situation, the forest troops also insisted on innovating command tactics according to the time and place, summarizing and creating "multi-point breakthroughs, segmented extinguishing", "combination of attack and burning, and fighting fire with fire" and other tactics to ensure that every fire fighting operation achieves the goal of "seizing the best time, choosing the best location, and using the best means".

Forest troops have achieved a same-day extinguishing rate of 96% of forest fires, which marks a historic leap in the combat effectiveness of forest troops.

The improvement of the actual combat capabilities of the troops has expanded the rhythm and space of operations, directly promoted the new operational model of long-distance mobile reinforcement of forest troops, and formed a new operational model of "based on the local area, supporting surrounding areas, and facing the whole country". pattern.

From forest fire extinguishing to the combination of prevention and extinguishing, from the protection of forest resources alone to the comprehensive practice of building ecological civilization, from the commando team that completes fire prevention and extinguishing tasks to the work team that maintains ecological security, the functions of the forest force continue to play a role Be enriched and expanded.

In response to the situation that "human factors account for more than 95% of fires in forests (grassland)", starting in 2000, the Armed Police Forest Force has adjusted its functions to form a system that focuses on fire extinguishing with one hand and prevention with the other. New pattern.

In order to weave a fire prevention network that "combines open space and ground, covers the whole area, and provides group prevention and control", every spring and autumn forest fire prevention period, officers and soldiers will go deep into the inaccessible mountains and dense forests to patrol and set up checkpoints. , carry out fire prevention publicity. During the Spring Festival, Qingming Festival, National Day Golden Week and other holidays, from Shangri-La in Yunnan to Huanglong in Jiuzhaigou, Sichuan, from Lalu Wetland in Tibet to Kanas Lake in Xinjiang, from Changbai Forest Sea in Jilin to Hulunbuir Prairie, there are more than a hundred duty teams every day Nearly 10,000 officers and soldiers are stationed at the front, implementing strict supervision over key parts of tourist attractions, strictly rectifying illegal use of fire, destroying vegetation and other behaviors, reminding tourists to protect every plant and tree in the scenic area, and working hard to prevent and eliminate forest fires in tourist attractions in forest areas. Join forces from all parties to build ecological barriers to protect scenic spots.

Since 1999, the forest troops have cooperated with local forestry police to launch searches and crackdowns on wildlife poaching in more than 20 national nature reserves such as Changbai Mountain, Xishuangbanna, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the foot of the Tianshan Mountains, and the Xilingol Prairie. Hundreds of operations, such as "Protecting Tibetan Antelope No. 1", "Banna Rainforest No. 2" and "Operation Flying Eagle", with the main purpose of animal criminals, have effectively curbed the momentum of poaching.

In 2007, the report of the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China included "building ecological civilization" as a development goal for the first time, putting forward new and higher requirements for the forest troops to perform their duties and missions. In response to the call, the majority of forest officers and soldiers insisted on being good guardians of ecological security and good propagandists and practitioners of ecological civilization. They used slogans, flyers, performances and speeches, highway signs and other carriers to seize various opportunities to carry out publicity, creating a strong atmosphere of protecting the ecology and building ecological civilization. At the same time, the "Forest Guardian Forest" activity has been vigorously carried out, and 6.6 million trees have been planted since 1999 alone.

Faced with the great goal of building a harmonious socialist society in the new century and new stage, and the practical need to perform functions and missions in the new situation and new tasks, Wang Zuoming, director of the Armed Police Forest Command, and Wang Changhe, political commissar, represented the Armed Police Forest Force. All officers and soldiers solemnly promised: Please rest assured that the motherland and the people will be assured that there are green guards, the forest will always be with the motherland, and the green will always be on the earth.