Thai wildfires rage across 10 provinces in northern Thailand

[puck2]

Children urgently need education in their schools about fire and pollution. After some years maybe it would work. Did everyone hear from their children that the teachers talked about the problem?

 

It worked for me in the German elementary school concerning waste.

 

Could be one way to solve the problem here in Thailand... at least in the future.

[Burma Bill]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

The inferno’s ominous reach spans 10 provinces including Tak, Lampang, Chiang Mai, Phetchabun, Nakhon Sawan, Mae Hong Son, Nan, Phitsanulok, Uttaradit, and Kamphaeng Phet.

 

Having lived in the north of Thailand for 20 years, this will be great news for the local people who will benefit from a bumper crop of mushrooms when the rain arrives, the excess being sold at roadside stalls.

[stix40]

1 hour ago, stix40 said:

If leaving a bad reviews on trip advisor in Thailand gives you a possibility of 2 years in jail 

Then these arsonists should get a minimum of life improvement or maybe hands chopped off ? 

Dammed predictive text imprisonment 

[hotchilli]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

GISTDA investigators point the finger at local practices, citing that the conflagration is often ignited deliberately by farmers engaging in pre-planting or post-harvest burns.

Thai culture... you can't change it until the older generation are gone.

[Georgealbert]

2 hours ago, worgeordie said:

I would say they are too late , I never hear of them catching any of these Arsonists,

they need police , army,rangers and volunteers ,out in the forests and hills , use

drones , anyone they find out in the forest will have to be questioned , any aronists

they catch must be given serious prison time , as a deterrent to others ,and to let

people realise this is not acceptable anymore .. 

 

regards worgeordie

Fully agree more needs to be done to prevent these fires.

Arson is defined in sections 217 to 225 of the Thai criminal code, and must be against property belonging to someone else.

 

In the UK arson is under the Criminal Damage Act 1971, and land can be classed as property, something I cannot see mentioned in the Thai criminal codes

 

Translation of Thai criminal code.

 

https://www.samuiforsale.com/law-texts/thailand-penal-code.html

 

 

Edited February 23 by Georgealbert

[Dolf]

40 minutes ago, newbee2022 said:

I have to look into my crystal ball. Then I'll tell you🥳

Same every year if you look at the weather reports.

[Georgealbert]

1 hour ago, xeniv23 said:

I spent many years fighting wildfire in the US.  It takes a large, well trained, equipped and very costly infrastructure already in existence to stand half a chance.  I just don't see that happening here in Thailand.  Hope all are safe.  

Yes fully agree that the rural fire services will be poorly equipped and trained to deal with these types of fire.

 

Also incident command and control, is normally taken over at a political level, hence no real experience of emergency response, so placing extra risks on responders.

 

Another problem, will be volunteer units, who will just turn up and do their own thing, with no consideration of the fire action plan.

[sambum]

1 hour ago, worgeordie said:

35 years actually ,  and its NEW ....all they do is try and put fires out , no proactive measures to actually

catch the arsonists . like a lot of things here jump into action after something happens,

 

regards worgeordie 

 

Totally agree! Regarding proactive measures - not - a few years ago a railway employee with a history of drink and drugs problems working as a steward on a train raped a young girl and killed her by throwing her off the train. So what did  the railway authorities do? Ban the sale of alcohol to all passengers on trains! They should have had a vetting procedure so that the despicable low life was never employed in the first place, instead of which they punish the passengers! ???

[thaiowl]

This is the view from the air yesterday, west of the Chao Phraya River in Nonthaburi/Pathum Thani.

[stoner]

1 hour ago, Burma Bill said:

 

Having lived in the north of Thailand for 20 years, this will be great news for the local people who will benefit from a bumper crop of mushrooms when the rain arrives, the excess being sold at roadside stalls.

 

great news trading your health for a bumper crop ? 

[madmitch]

I would like to think that these wildfires might at last cause the Government to take action against the slash and burn practices.

 

But I doubt it it'll have any effect whatsoever.

 

 

[trainman34014]

Sadly it will never stop as firelighting here is some kind of weird Hobby.   If i walk or bike around the Villages near me in the mroning i see the smoking remains of last nights garden and field fires and in the evenings i see new ones being lit with the Locals sitting around smoking their rolled up Tobacco Leaves or Fags whilst drinking their Beers and Lao Kao.  They are doing what they love to do and it goes on Generation after Generation.

[NorthernRyland]

2 hours ago, Xonax said:

For people with an IQ over 40, this disaster wouldn't have been hard to predict. Maybe it is karma, that the crop burning farmers will now lose their valued possessions to the wildfires. But unfortunately most victims will be innocent people.

That's racist. SE Asian farmers have an IQ of 70, not 40.

[bristolgeoff]

The burning has started early with a big fire.I Imagine certain farmers have alot to answer for for starting it with many little ones.Alot of other things will be lost now but the burning maybe will be shorter this year.My mask is ready if it gets bad

[ujayujay]

6 hours ago, webfact said:

An apocalyptic blaze threatens to engulf vast swathes of the northern Thai landscape, with an estimated 1 million rai (equivalent to 160,000 hectares) poised to succumb to wildfires between February 19 and 25, as revealed by the Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency (GISTDA).

 

The inferno’s ominous reach spans 10 provinces including Tak, Lampang, Chiang Mai, Phetchabun, Nakhon Sawan, Mae Hong Son, Nan, Phitsanulok, Uttaradit, and Kamphaeng Phet.

 

GISTDA investigators point the finger at local practices, citing that the conflagration is often ignited deliberately by farmers engaging in pre-planting or post-harvest burns.

 

Most concerning is the incineration of conserved areas within national parks and agricultural zones. The agency vows to combat the blazes with rigorous measures.

Utilising satellite technology, GISTDA reports a staggering 1,532 hot spots nationwide, with 671 menacing conserved wildlife areas, 340 encroaching upon national reserved forests, and 232 threatening agricultural lands. Shockingly, even lands allocated under Sor Por Kor (a scheme granting Ministry of Agriculture land to locals) aren’t spared, with 163 sites ablaze.

 

Kanchanaburi emerges as the epicentre of this fiery crisis, boasting a disturbing 221 hot spots alone, reported The Nation.

The regional panorama paints a grim picture, with Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam collectively grappling with over 4,700 hot spots, underscoring the dire magnitude of the situation.

 

In related news, a wildfire ravaged nearly 100 acres of the Samet Forest in Trat province from January 31 through February 1, with suspicions that locals secretly set the fire to forage for forest products. Despite the efforts of firefighting teams, the blaze remains uncontained and there are concerns it could spread to an adjacent 2,000-acre forest.

Thai authorities monitored the situation closely, including the safety of a nearby teachers’ residence, and have adjusted their firefighting strategy to counter the spreading flames.

 

In other news, more than 250 firefighters from the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP) have been deployed to the western forest complex to combat raging fires. With a whopping 1,600 hectares of forest already devastated, these brave souls are working tirelessly to prevent further destruction.

 

by Nattapong Westwood 

Photo courtesy of The Nation

 

Full story: The Thaiger 2024-02-23

 

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They never will learn! I ask me: Pure Stupidity, lack of Education or Brain in switched off status!?

[Chongalulu]

4 hours ago, NorthernRyland said:

are you joking? Please tell us you're joking.

You win today’s Poe’s law award.

[Gknrd]

Miserable living conditions, kills thousands of young and old people. The armpit of the world several months a year.

[Luuk Chaai]

Down here in Hua Hin / Pranburi area    they plow the fields and push all the ripped out growth to the road and wait until dark and light it up

Trees on the side of the road are torched ..      then they plow / till and plant   pineapple sugar tomatoes melons    as soon as there's a harvest .  they come thru and desecrate everything with weed killers.....    then it starts over ..  plow push burn 

and we ask why the mental capacity is near zero ???

[cardinalblue]

I think it is hard for the gov to estimate what % of land are planned burns and what % of land becomes a wildfire (unplanned and out of control...

 

The problem is these farmers/forest burners are ill equipped to control their burns as nature always bat last..obviously, they are telling gov when they are burning so fires get out of control quickly

 

Here is a silly question - Are the burners held accountable for fires? Fires are expensive in terms of human/animal health effects and air pollution

 

Tragic situation...

[cowellandrew]

9 hours ago, worgeordie said:

I would say they are too late , I never hear of them catching any of these Arsonists,

they need police , army,rangers and volunteers ,out in the forests and hills , use

drones , anyone they find out in the forest will have to be questioned , any aronists

they catch must be given serious prison time , as a deterrent to others ,and to let

people realise this is not acceptable anymore .. 

 

regards worgeordie

You have to look at the villages no work no income, if the jungle isn't burnt you cannot get through it to forage for food, education is needed, plus employment 

Some things need fire to re grow and shoot again,

 

Bamboo is notorious for starting fire by itself wind=rub 2 sticks together = fire

[cowellandrew]

I would say they are too late , I never hear of them catching any of these Arsonists,

When you see fires in the mountains!

thai saying!

ling tam cow lam!

[liddelljohn]

its all a cunning and genius level Thai plan to reduce global warming by blotting out the sunlight  with a black smoke filled sky......AMAZING THAILAND

[mikebell]

18 hours ago, Dolf said:

It will get worse then won't improve until after songkran.

By which time there will be drought conditions and no water left to fight fires.

[Dolf]

3 hours ago, mikebell said:

By which time there will be drought conditions and no water left to fight fires.

Have you not studied Thai weather? Songkran is a water festival. After Songkran it starts raining more until the end of October. Mid February to mid April is hot and smokey then the rains arrive and it goes green. 

[Expat68]

2 hours ago, Dolf said:

Have you not studied Thai weather? Songkran is a water festival. After Songkran it starts raining more until the end of October. Mid February to mid April is hot and smokey then the rains arrive and it goes green. 

Don't count on it

[Dolf]

1 hour ago, Expat68 said:

Don't count on it

It happens every other year. Will it stop this year? I don't think so. Tropical cycles are fairly reliable. Maybe they change a few days either way but the rains always arrive. Thailand is great in green season.

[zzaa09]

On 2/22/2024 at 10:49 PM, hotchilli said:

Thai culture... you can't change it until the older generation are gone.

And then....that is questionable as well. 

Allow the Thai culture to be Thai, instead of the dreamy state that wishes such to be something else that doesn't fit well. 

 

That old Eurocentric adage: Reflective of us, in our image has never worked well in non-European societies. 

[wealthychef]

On 2/23/2024 at 11:17 AM, webfact said:

local practices,

 

which sound a little bit like arson.  LOL

 

[mikebell]

21 hours ago, Dolf said:

Have you not studied Thai weather? Songkran is a water festival. After Songkran it starts raining more until the end of October. Mid February to mid April is hot and smokey then the rains arrive and it goes green. 

So are you saying Thailand doesn't have droughts?  In my 20 years here, I have not studied Thai weather; I'm just aware of things like water supplies being cut off for many hours a day.

[Expat68]

19 hours ago, Dolf said:

It happens every other year. Will it stop this year? I don't think so. Tropical cycles are fairly reliable. Maybe they change a few days either way but the rains always arrive. Thailand is great in green season.

Not so many years ago (within the last seven) in Issaan the rivers almost ran dry and standpipes were on the point of being used