URUMQI, Oct. 23(Xinhuanet)-- Steam emits constantly from the bores as water is infused into the 200-meter-deep ignited coal bed underground, while dozens of bulldozers nearby shovel red-hot gravel along hillside surfaces.

This is the scenec of a key site of fire fighting underway at the Tielieke coalfield fire area, located in Tielieke Township, Aksu, about 1,100 kilometers southwest of Urumqi, capital of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

"We can put out the coalfield fire by drilling bores, infusing water and slurry, and covering the fire with loess," said Qi Dexiang, head of the Xinjiang Regional Coalfield Fire Fighting Project Office, an institution established in 1958 with the purpose of extinguishing longtime-burning coalfield fires plaguingthe region.

"First, we drill into the depth of the ignited coal bed and then infuse water and slurry into it to lower the temperature of the ignited coalfield, which could be as high as 1,000 degrees centigrade due to long-term burning. Then after the temperature falls down, we cover the surface with loess to isolate the underground fire from the atmosphere and put it out," Qi said.

Xinjiang boasts estimated coal reserves of 1.8 trillion tons, or 40.6 percent of China's total, but 33 sites in the region stillhave coalfield fires covering an area of 6.45 million square meters, devouring about eight million tons of coal a year and causing heavy pollution in the surrounding environment.

Self-ignition of exposed coal beds, colliery fires and dry climate are the main causes of coalfield fire. Some coalfield fires have been burning for nearly ten centuries in the region.

"Compared with the ways commonly used in some other countries, our way of extinguishing coalfield fire is effective, and further more it costs much less," Qi said.

With a specialized team for extinguishing coalfield fire and 47 years of fire fighting experience, the office has developed an effective technological system for prospecting, extinguishing, andmonitoring coalfield fires, according to Qi.

The century-old Liuhuanggou coalfield fire in the region, China's worst in terms of the ignited area and loss of coal, was extinguished in late 2004 after four consecutive years' of effortsby this extinguishing team.

"We vow to put out all coalfield fires in the region by 2015," said Qi, adding that this aim reduces the original schedule by five years, thus saving about 24 million more tons of high-quality coal in the region.

With the financial support of the central government, five key coalfields in the region were put out between 1984 to 1999, preventing 30 billion tons of coal from being consumed.

Wu Yin, deputy director of the Energy Bureau of China's National Development and Reform Commission, affirmed the progress in extinguishing coalfield fires in Xinjiang.

"To protect the rich coal resources in Xinjiang, the central government will continue to financially support the fire extinguishing work for the rest of the coalfield fires," he said at a conference held here last month.

China's coalfield fires are mainly in Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia and Ningxia, which together account for over 80 percent of China's total coal reserves. The fires in these coalfields cause an annual loss of 13 million tons of coal.

The achievements in extinguishing coalfield fires in Xinjiang show that they can be extinguished with scientific methods despite various difficulties, said Wu.

"With advanced technology and equipment, we can now detect any underground coalfield fire,"said Qi Weipeng, manager of the Tielieke coalfield fire fighting project.

"When we put out all coalfield fires in Xinjiang by 2015, we may to go to Inner Mongolia and Ningxia to help put out the fires there with our expertise," he said confidently. Enditem