Storm to help fight North, Isan fires

Volunteers hoping for relief from rain

As bushfires destroy thousands of rai of forest across the North and Northeast, firefighters and volunteers are now pinning their hopes of controlling the blazes on heavy rain which have been forecast for later this week.

Prawatsat Chanthep, chief of Thap Lan National Park in Nakhon Ratchasima, said yesterday the bushfires in the park have continued to spread despite efforts by authorities to extinguish them.

“It has already ravaged 500 rai [of forests] near Pha Kep Tawan. We’ve drafted in all the firefighters, volunteers and others we can, but this has proved to be far from enough,” he said.

“We still desperately need more firefighting equipment and extinguishers to deal with a fire of such proportions.”

Mr Prawatsat said the success of firefighting operations now hinges on a storm, which the Thai Meteorological Department (TMD) said will bring heavy rain to the North and Northeast from today until Thursday.

The fires have raged for two weeks, threatening popular tourist sites like Pha Kep Tawan, and continued to spread unabated with more new “hot spots” being detected in areas that are beyond firefighters’ reach.

A similar situation is occurring in Nakhon Phanom, where fires have destroyed trees across 2,000 rai of the Phu Pan Noi Forest Protection Zone in Phiman sub-district, said Bancha Srichaluang, head of Phiman’s local administrative organisation.

Mr Bancha blamed the fires on villagers, whom he said started the blazes to help them collect wild mushrooms and clear land for planting once the rainy season returns.

Like in Thap Lan National Park, firefighters and volunteers have been having trouble reaching fires as most are located in dense forests and other inaccessible areas.

Chiang Mai has also seen an increase in the number of wildfires this week, which sent PM2.5 readings to 191 microgrammes per cubic metre — above the safe threshold of 50 μg/ m³, said Chiang Mai governor Charoenrit Sanguansat.