BEIJING, Feb. 6 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice Premier Hui Liangyu on Sunday urged local authorities to intensify efforts to prevent forest fires.

The senior Chinese official also ordered the country's forest fire prevention departments to come up with emergency response measures to be implemented as soon as fires break out.

Hui warned that the country faced severe challenges from forest fires as the drought in the north continued and there was less rain than normal in the south in February.

A total of 168 forest fires were recorded from Feb. 2 to Feb. 6, according to monitoring stations from the country's forest fire management authority.

On Saturday, a forest blaze killed six people and left another three injured in east China's Zhejiang Province. Local officials said fireworks were the likely cause of the tragedy.