According to Le Thanh Son, deputy director of the provincial Department of Agriculture and Environment, on October 8 that authorities had begun implementing a coordination mechanism for deploying firefighting personnel, vehicles and equipment across the province.
Lam Dong has Vietnam's largest forest area, with more than 930,000 hectares of natural forest and nearly 199,000 hectares of plantations. Its forest coverage stands at 45.91 per cent, above the national average of 42.03 per cent.
According to the National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting, El Nino conditions could intensify significantly from October, potentially bringing sharply reduced rainfall, prolonged drought and heightened forest fire risks.
Son said forest fire prevention would be treated as an urgent priority during the dry season, with an emphasis on early detection, rapid response and mobilising resources locally.
Authorities in communes, wards and Phu Quy Special Zone have been instructed to prepare firefighting personnel, equipment and supplies based on local conditions.
They must also tighten controls on the use of fire in farming and vegetation clearance, while encouraging households near forests to sign fire prevention commitments.
Forest management units have been ordered to prepare firefighting plans, reduce combustible vegetation and increase patrols in high-risk areas to prevent fires from spreading.
During the first nine months of 2026, forestry personnel conducted more than 850 public awareness activities, secured 2,600 forest protection commitments and carried out 3,300 patrols and inspections involving about 6,000 personnel deployments.
Despite improved fire prevention efforts, forestry violations remain a concern.
Lam Dong recorded 416 forestry violations in the first nine months, including 201 cases of illegal forest clearance that damaged 35.4 hectares.
Compared with the same period last year, total violations rose by 92 cases, while illegal forest clearance cases increased by 81 and the damaged area expanded by 12.5 hectares.
