The fire started in Anning, a city in central Yunnan and 60 kilometers from the provincial capital Kunming, at 1:56 a.m. Saturday and quickly spread across some 200 hectares of forests, said Zheng Guolin, a forest police officer in Anning.

"Half of the sky was lighted up and the wind was strong. We couldn't even make out to which direction the fire was moving," Zheng said.

Zheng said the strong wind and craggedness of the mountain made it more difficult for controlling the fire.

More than 3,200 people, including 1,420 policemen, 470 firefighters, 1,160 local people and 150 officials, were enlisted to help extinguish the blaze.

Burning fire was put out by 1 p.m. Sunday. But people were still stationed there for fear that smolder turned to blaze again.

No casualties were reported.

Cause of the fire is being investigated.