Naked flames in northeast China's forest fire had been extinguished as of Sunday morning, said sources with the local government.

About 3,530 people, including the firefighters and the armed police, have been mobilized to fight the fire in Heilongjiang Province. Local meteorological staffs created artificial rains to help quench the flames.

A clean-up operation of the site is underway.

The blazes were spotted last Friday in the forest areas between Heihe City and Yichun City, bordering the Lesser Hinggan Mountains.

Severe drought hit the province this summer and the average temperature this autumn was higher than usual, posing a high fire risk to forests in the region, according to the provincial meteorological bureau.

The Lesser Hinggan Mountains and the Greater Hinggan Mountains form the country's largest forest zone.

(Xinhua News Agency October 7, 2007)