Chiang Mai Declares Wildfire Disaster Zones in Samoeng and Hot

"Officials remain on alert..."

Get off your asses and start doing something about it.

This is a public health crisis that is out of control.

The hills in the Doi Saket district are flaming up now.

4 hours ago, Georgealbert said:

The Nation reported that officials have confirmed that monitoring will continue closely in both districts and surrounding areas. Further measures may be introduced if the situation deteriorates, particularly in response to health risks linked to prolonged haze exposure.

Same story every year. Always "officials are monitoring". Never anything about the cause of the fires and what action is being taken to reduce fire risks and prevention measures.

6 minutes ago, banyanman said:

Same story every year. Always "officials are monitoring". Never anything about the cause of the fires and what action is being taken to reduce fire risks and prevention measures.

Yes that's right, they monitor as the people burn the forests then once they've seen it happen they go in their office and turn on the air purifiers.

They know why people do it and they say so much: hunting and foraging. It's not a crisis or accident they people choose to do this and the authorities don't want to track down the people. You see the foragers later in the year parked on the side of the roads by paths. There's not that many people in those regions even and you could probably ask around and get answers if you applied the right kind of pressure.

So it's on the Thai people to stop the tribal people and Burmese/Thai yai along with any Thai up there from burning the forests for food.

Wildfires ??? Hardly. These fires are set by people too

lazy to do proper brush clearing. The Authorities look the

other way, as usual, only giving lip service to the annual

problem.

It's not just the big cities that suffer (only it's only them, that get the headlines).

In Mae Hong Son right now, it's simply impossible to be outside; even a 5-minute walk to the shops is out of the question.

The smog, dust, soot and whatever the hell else it is, gets in your eyes, nose, throat and lungs. Add to that you can't even see 5 meters ahead of you - and you've got an extensive list of how unhealthy it is right now.

22 minutes ago, mberbae said:

Wildfires ??? Hardly. These fires are set by people too

lazy to do proper brush clearing. The Authorities look the

other way, as usual, only giving lip service to the annual

problem.

Are you aware that an uncontrolled fire is a wildfire human caused or not. It’s wild like out of control man!

As an American, I have observed the air quality damage from forest fires in the US and Canada. Major US cities had the worst smoke (AQI) numbers in the world last year, worst in their history. Welcome to Global Warming. But in Thailand we also know that people are starting fires . . . INTENTIONALLY.

Without a doubt, this is an outrageous situation and not something that we can justify by suggesting that local customs should be respected. There is NO RESPECT for some moron that starts a fire so they can forage for mushrooms. Put that bastard in jail -- their actions are a criminal assault on law abiding citizens. Chiang Mai AQI readings that approach 400 are unsafe for people already dead -- and that air will seriously damage the living. Older people and children are very sensitive to this air pollution. And my post says nothing about Chiang Mai hotels that are operating with a 10% occupancy rate and restaurants that are nearly empty.

I do like to remind people that this will only last a few weeks . . . and then we mostly have very nice conditions in Chiang Mai. But right now, we are sitting in the lap of hell and no one is really making a serious effort to modify the bad behavior of a few, to protect the many. And this applies to idiot farmers that continue to burn because they are too lazy to plow.

We went to CM about ten years ago and didn't realize the smoke was so bad.

My partner took 6 weeks for her breathing difficulties to stop. Haven't been back since at any time. If they don't care enough to stop it I don't care to spend any money there!

1 hour ago, ArchieBunker said:

Are you aware that an uncontrolled fire is a wildfire human caused or not. It’s wild like out of control man!

Well, now he's aware, right?

7 hours ago, Georgealbert said:

Chiang Mai has declared wildfire disaster zones

The mushroom season is approaching!!

29 minutes ago, Burma Bill said:

The mushroom season is approaching!!

As it does every year...'same same no difference'

4 hours ago, Kat Hao said:

As an American, I have observed the air quality damage from forest fires in the US and Canada. Major US cities had the worst smoke (AQI) numbers in the world last year, worst in their history. Welcome to Global Warming. But in Thailand we also know that people are starting fires . . . INTENTIONALLY.

Without a doubt, this is an outrageous situation and not something that we can justify by suggesting that local customs should be respected. There is NO RESPECT for some moron that starts a fire so they can forage for mushrooms. Put that bastard in jail -- their actions are a criminal assault on law abiding citizens. Chiang Mai AQI readings that approach 400 are unsafe for people already dead -- and that air will seriously damage the living. Older people and children are very sensitive to this air pollution. And my post says nothing about Chiang Mai hotels that are operating with a 10% occupancy rate and restaurants that are nearly empty.

I do like to remind people that this will only last a few weeks . . . and then we mostly have very nice conditions in Chiang Mai. But right now, we are sitting in the lap of hell and no one is really making a serious effort to modify the bad behavior of a few, to protect the many. And this applies to idiot farmers that continue to burn because they are too lazy to plow.

Fires from trees and crops are pretty well carbon neutral. They take CO2 from the atmosphere when growing and release it when burnt. So pretty well net zero.

Doesn't mean the air quality is pleasant during a fire though.

2 hours ago, johng said:

As it does every year...'same same no difference'

Very much so!

I lived among the mountains of Lampang and Phayao Provinces for 20 years and when the monsoon rains arrived, a popular, and much varied, assortment of mushrooms were foraged and sold by the villagers from roadside stalls. This burning has been a practice for generations providing people with FOOD.

Can anyone explain the complete lack of fires in northern Vietnam other than a small portion adjoining Laos ?

Only been the Hanoi once, I imagine much of this area is mountainous.

Perhaps they have strict laws regarding burning and actually enforce them ??

2 hours ago, Burma Bill said:

Very much so!

I lived among the mountains of Lampang and Phayao Provinces for 20 years and when the monsoon rains arrived, a popular, and much varied, assortment of mushrooms were foraged and sold by the villagers from roadside stalls. This burning has been a practice for generations providing people with FOOD.

It's all about greed & money nowadays.

11 hours ago, banyanman said:

Same story every year. Always "officials are monitoring". Never anything about the cause of the fires and what action is being taken to reduce fire risks and prevention measures.

They are called officials for a reason because officially they will do nothing about the problem. 🤷🏼