BEIJING - China on Monday issued a regulation providing more precautions against fires in historic buildings.

According to the regulation, from the State Administration of Cultural Heritage and the Ministry of Public Security, specialist firefighting groups should be set up to limit fire risks around such sites.

The administration forbade production and use of flammable and combustible material near historic buildings and said that gas should only be used for residential purposes in these areas.

Most old Chinese buildings are made of wood, leaving them vulnerable to fire.

In 2014, a blaze destroyed nearly two-thirds of the old-fashioned Tibetan-style homes in Shangri-la of southwest China's Yunnan Province.

From the start of 2010 to the end of 2013, 52 fires endangering historic buildings were reported to the administration.