New rash of forest fires in the North likely to be arson, Army says

[webfact]

New rash of forest fires in the North likely to be arson, Army says

By Nathawat Laping 
The Nation

 

 

Some 1,000 officials and volunteers have joined up to battle a major forest fire, which turned the mountainous area overlapping Chiang Mai's Muang and Mae Chan districts into an inferno that brings to mind scenes in apocalypse movies.

 

The fire started on Sunday night in the Doi Jorakhe area of Tambon Tha Sud in Muang before spreading to Tambon Pa Teung in Mae Chan, a densely populated area and home to Mae Chan Hospital and temples.

 

 

As of Monday morning, the fire had damaged 1,000 rai of forestland and nearby farms.

 

Mae Chan disrict chief Wandee Ratchomphu led the efforts by 800 state officials and volunteers to put out the fire and prevent it from reaching communities or more forestland in Mae Fah Luang district. A special coordination centre was set up at Wat Pateung to dispatch firefighters to the affected areas by first light, attempts to put out the flames in the heavily wooded mountainous area during the night considered dangerous. 

 

 

Third Army Region deputy commander Major Buncha Duriyapan was also on the scene to help supervise soldiers joining the fire-fighting efforts. The Army brought in a helicopter to provide support to the Protected Area Regional Office 15's chopper being used to carry water from the three-metre-deep Tham Sua reservior to douse the flames in hard-to-reach spots.

 

Buncha also ordered related agencies, especially the police and army, to investigate and identify the person(s) who started this massive fire, saying this was “a strange and unprecedented situation when wildfires erupted all over the province's mountainous areas simultaneously”. He said he was convinced that this was a case of arson and not a freak natural incident like a lightening strike. Noting that the forest fires were now fanning out in all directions, he pointed out that they would worsen the province's already poor air pollution and affect public health. 

 

 

The Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency's fire monitoring system (fire.gistda.or.th) as of 2.33am on Monday identified 521 hot spots in the North. Chiang Rai led the pack with 291 hotspots, followed by Nan (57), Lampang (46), Phayao (46), Chiang Mai (44), Tak (15), Mae Hong Son (14), Phrae (6) and Lamphun (2).

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30367713

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2019-04-15

[Vacuum]

6 minutes ago, DonDoRondo said:

 is this 

a political protest?

Wouldn't surprise me.

[from the home of CC]

well they they tried to burn BKK, wouldn't put it past a few diehards..

[NCC1701A]

38 minutes ago, webfact said:

which turned the mountainous area overlapping Chiang Mai's Muang and Mae Chan districts into an inferno that brings to mind scenes in apocalypse movies.

looks like Malibu, California. I would sit at the Coffee Bean in downtown Malibu and watch it all burn.

Those were the days.

[humbug]

seems like the first few posters on here, are talking to eachother from the alex jones master of conspiracy theories website, very fishy 

 

land clearance from greedy farmers should have be outed as a major cause for these fires for weeks, theres been plenty of evidence of this on facebook etc from forestry officials, but now  its being allowed through by junta media, shameful

[WeekendRaider]

3rd warmest March in 140 years and it is not linear.

 

duh.

 

no power involved with limbs, nor even one we can’t see unless it is the stuff we only have a chemical name for. there’s only one of those all powerful things that I know of.

 

and it not only fully accounts for more intense fire conditions but.... all the air we breath, all of our food and even now, we “believe”... why we left the trees 8 mya. C. O. 2. 

 

it’s not rocket science, we have known this for 200 years.

[sammieuk1]

Its off the chart stupid hot here sending people crazy no doubt to start fires to cool down????

[Denim]

17 hours ago, from the home of CC said:

well they they tried to burn BKK, wouldn't put it past a few diehards..

The yellow shirts revenge  ?

 

Or even estate agents driving property values down to make a killing ?

 

Both pretty unlikely.

 

[unamazedloso]

Yep its farmers and people that like to call themselves farmers by farming land they dont own. Theres no real law enforcement and governments dont care solong as poor people arent an issue to then personally and they keep making profits off sugarcane, corn and rice given the reason fires arent actually controlled at all.

Governements are to blame 100%. The people lighting fires are just your typical alcoholic, drug addict, brainwashed ignorant wana be farmers that like to feel the world owes them the ability to destroy the earth and its inhabitants so they can get a couple hundred baht from selling their spoils in markets.

I dont feel sorry for them and have chased many out of the jungle behind my house at gunpoint and put fires out myself. Ive supplied video evidence to police and still the people doing it near me are living illegally and all have normal jobs as well so not poor but its always the excuse of being poor and simple, etc... and police walk away and thankfully walk away from me doing what i shouldnt do to get rid of these idiots but theres only so much a compasionate sympathetic person can take. These pricks are killing everyone and everything and blame lies soley with the government.

Makes it hard to be a law abiding tourist when there isnt one law abbiding citizen.

I have to fight fires every year by myself to protect my house. Fire trucks Wont come! Thats pretty bad for the countries image.

[elephant45]

Strange how people worldwide want to destroy their own environments isn't it?

[Vacuum]

27 minutes ago, Denim said:

Or even estate agents driving property values down to make a killing ?

Thinking out of the box.

[connda]

20 hours ago, webfact said:

New rash of forest fires in the North likely to be arson, Army says

How long did it take them to figure that out.  Military intelligence at its finest.

[Dibbler]

If its arson its encouraged by state officials and other influential actors who hire poor people to destroy forest and grab land for expanding corn and mushroom harvest for China.  All in the name of short term profits. While everyone is making money there is no end in sight to this destruction and impacts on human health will last for years (respiratory illness, skin disease, cancer and more). 

[toofarnorth]

Helicopters are back again this morning , can't see flames as mountain covered in smoke for the third day.

2 pics from me , used to live in the house with fence a few years ago , now 300 metres up the road.

[Chicken George]

20 hours ago, DonDoRondo said:

To anybody up on this issue of set fires - are these all mushroom seeker / rice farmers?  Or is this 

a political protest?  <deleted>?

 

                                               

                                

They burn to encourage wild mushrooms to grow. They are worth a lot to the pickers.. The sale of such mushrooms should be banned. They are sold abroad too so involve bigger business. 

There is a burning ban on but makes little difference.

[hotchilli]

2 hours ago, unamazedloso said:

Yep its farmers and people that like to call themselves farmers by farming land they dont own. Theres no real law enforcement and governments dont care solong as poor people arent an issue to then personally and they keep making profits off sugarcane, corn and rice given the reason fires arent actually controlled at all.

Governements are to blame 100%. The people lighting fires are just your typical alcoholic, drug addict, brainwashed ignorant wana be farmers that like to feel the world owes them the ability to destroy the earth and its inhabitants so they can get a couple hundred baht from selling their spoils in markets.

I dont feel sorry for them and have chased many out of the jungle behind my house at gunpoint and put fires out myself. Ive supplied video evidence to police and still the people doing it near me are living illegally and all have normal jobs as well so not poor but its always the excuse of being poor and simple, etc... and police walk away and thankfully walk away from me doing what i shouldnt do to get rid of these idiots but theres only so much a compasionate sympathetic person can take. These pricks are killing everyone and everything and blame lies soley with the government.

Makes it hard to be a law abiding tourist when there isnt one law abbiding citizen.

I have to fight fires every year by myself to protect my house. Fire trucks Wont come! Thats pretty bad for the countries image.

And there's the truth !!