Vigilant Residents Monitor Chiang Mai Forest Fires

[george]

Vigilant residents monitor Chiang Mai forest fires: 100+ blazes in six weeks

CHIANG MAI: -- Some residents of Thailand's northern province of Chiang Mai are on 24-hour security alert for forest fires as more than 100 blazes have occurred in the first 45 days of this year, according to a senior provincial forest fire control official.

Chiang Mai's Forest Fire Control Operation Division chief Surapol Leelavaropas said that from the beginning of the year, 111 forest fires already occurred, most of which believed to have been fires set by villagers who believe that the burning and subsequent ash will stimulate wild mushroom growth and nourish a better crop for a higher yield.

According to Mr. Surapol, 240 acres of Chiang Mai forest and woodlands have been burned within the past month and a half, mostly in Hang Dong and Hot districts. Wildfires have also caused smog and polluted air over the province during recent days.

Meanwhile, Hmong ethnic people living in the Doi Suthep-Pui National Park area have carved out a 20-kilometre long forest fireguards around their village. They also set up 13 patrol groups to monitor possible forest fires around the clock.

The authorities are also raising awareness among the Hmong and other local residents in the mountains of the danger of forest fires, in an attempt to prevent further manmade fires being set off.

-- TNA 2009-02-15

[Gravelrash]

It will be a long hard battle to change the mindset. Mind you the guy behind me is only burning once a week now, must be wanting to contribute, so there is hope.

[Greenside]

Dozens of small leaf burning fires about yesterday. I'm going to start reporting people to the number on the penalty notices that are being ignored shortly. They really seemed to have made some headway last year but seems that people have very short memories...

[annabel]

I live in Saraphi and I think this is the worst area of all for burning.....they don't only burn small piles of gathered dry leaves....they burn the entire bushes on the road edges and the fileds right along the 121 between the 106 (Big Tree Road) and the 108 (hang Dong Road) The smoke is incredible..... One night driving home from Hang Dong Road I could see in the distance a huge, but HUGE big black thing in the sky to my left ...this was at night and I could see it....that's how black it was.....I wasn't sure if it was a cloud, an illusion or what till I got closer and realized it came from a huge fire from some factory a couple of kilometers off the main road.....It looked like a huge tornado and the smell was unbelievable......

I did see the other day, late afternoon, a water truck going down the 121 towards Hang Dong Road and it was watering all the field fires that were going on at that time....haven't seen it again and the burning just continues. Even the 2 temples right near my house burn daily......One of them even has a huge metal cylinder that they use to burn things in ...it's about 6 feet tall and maybe 4 feet in diameter...they seem to use it only after they've had functions and need to get rid of garbage ...? I guess.....But the smoke and the smell is just horrible ....

The 121 all the way, on both sides, from Hang Dong Road right up till Mae Rim Road is just full of garbage bags that people dump there and then when someone feels like it ....they gather some of it and burn it ....

I think if for one , the government organized proper garbage collection everywhere that would help a lot....

[WaiWai]

Lampang smog the thickest in the country

By The Nation

Published on February 16, 2009

The smog currently hitting Lampang is the thickest in the country, a senior environment official said yesterday.

Suwit Khattiyawong said he would meet with the provincial governor today to discuss solutions to the problem, as well as to issue a health warning to the local public. Dust elements smaller than 10 microns in smog were hazardous to respiratory problems.

The three highest smog density has been detected in Lampang: 221 microgram per cubic metres in Muang district and 207 and 232 units in Mae Moh district.

Meanwhile, Some residents of Thailand's northern province of Chiang Mai are on 24hour security alert for forest fires as more than 100 blazes have occurred in the first 45 days of this year, according to a senior provincial forest fire control official.

Chiang Mai's Forest Fire Control Operation Division chief Surapol Leelavaropas said that from the beginning of the year, 111 forest fires already occurred, most of which believed to have been fires set by villagers who believe that the burning and subsequent ash will stimulate wild mushroom growth and nourish a better crop for a higher yield.

According to Mr. Surapol, 240 acres of Chiang Mai forest and woodlands have been burned within the past month and a half, mostly in Hang Dong and Hot districts. Wildfires have also caused smog and polluted air over the province during recent days.

Meanwhile, Hmong ethnic people living in the Doi SuthepPui National Park area have carved out a 20kilometre long forest fireguards around

their village. They also set up 13 patrol groups to monitor possible forest fires around the clock.

The authorities are also raising awareness among the Hmong and other local residents in the mountains of the danger of forest fires, in an attempt to prevent further manmade fires being set off.

[Mitker]

The problem is just repeating itself exactly every year.

It's about time that authorities stop "monitoring", "meeting", "discussing".

The problem is serious enough for - finally - acting!

Laws are there (plenty and for a long time) but are just never seriously enforced. Burning keeps going on blatantly everywhere. People feel discomfort, many get sick and, with time, some die of it.

But nothing changes except a few public declarations with close to zero effect.

Sad. And irresponsible.

[kthailand]

Due to constant exposure to seasonal smog, residents in Chiang Mai face twice the risk of lung cancer as people elsewhere, a Chiang Mai University medical lecturer said yesterday.

The annual risk rate for lung cancer among the population in the North is now 40 per 100,000 people - compared to 20 per 100,000 people in other regions, said Assoc Professor Phongthep Wiwatthanadej.

Up to 600 Chiang Mai residents will face lung cancer risk each year, out of a total population of 1.7 million people living in this northern province.

Phongthep said his theory was not supported yet by any research, but said the constant smog exposure had subjected Chiang Mai locals to lung cancer risk, especially those living in Saraphee district, where the highest risk rate was reported.

The rate suffered by women in the district was one the highest in the world, he said without elaborating.

The doctor was speaking at a local seminar held by Chiang Mai University to address the ongoing smog, which is now covering the province more heavily, causing greater health concerns for locals.

More and more cases of hospital treatment for those suffering from smog are reported, which mostly involves respiratory problems and irritation to patients' eyes.

The other provinces affected by the smog, which is caused by forest and manmade fires, are Lampang, Lamphun, Uttaradit, Phitsanulok, Sukhothai and Phetchabun.

Part of the smog is travelling from Burma.

Duangjan Arphawatcharut, a CMU researcher, said honey producers and bee farmers suffered a 70percent loss in revenue after flowers bloomed for only two days before the smog hit the North.

Global warming had been already disturbing the bees' activities beforehand.

In neighbouring Chiang Rai, the safety status will be announced in areas where dust density exceeds a safe level of 200 micrograms per cubic meter.

The existing dust density level is now far from reaching that stage but local civil disaster officers are monitoring the situation.

Source: portal.tv5.co.th

[kthailand]

To see a visual image of the fires burning throughout different parts of Southeast Asia and read interesting commentary search the earthobservatory.nasa.gov website:

This is comment for a image of Cambodia from this month, Feb 9, 2008 (called "Fires in Cambodia"):

"Agriculture-related fires are common in Southeast Asia in late winter, which is the middle of the area’s dry season. This image from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite on February 9, 2009. Places where the sensor detected active fires are outlined in red. An arc of hundreds of individual fires wraps around the northern part of Cambodia, north of the Tônlé Sab lake. Grassy areas appear light tan, and the country’s remaining tropical forests appear lush green.

The fires probably have diverse causes, including forest clearing for crops, and maintenance of existing pasture, cropland, and unimproved roads and paths. In addition, people set fires in the forest regions to increase the yield of natural resins that are produced by rainforest trees, to hunt, and to drive bees away from their hives so that honey can be collected. Of course, intentionally lit fires sometimes get out of control, and some of the fires in this scene could be the result of accident or negligence, just as they sometimes are in the United States."

***

& you can also find a map showing all of Southeast Asia entitled "Fires and Thick Smoke Across Southeast Asia" from the 2007, which was particularly bad in Chiang mai:

"Vehicles and power plants are not the only sources of air pollution and greenhouses gases: fires contribute, too. In the Northern Hemisphere spring, which is the end of dry season across much of Southeast Asia, thousands of fires burn each year as people clear cropland and pasture in anticipation of the upcoming wet (growing) season. Intentional fires also escape people’s control and burn into adjacent forest. The smoke from these fires crosses the Pacific Ocean, affecting climate far away.

This dramatic photo-like image of fires and smoke in Southeast Asia was captured on April 2, 2007, by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite. MODIS detected hundreds, possibly thousands of fires (marked in red), burning in Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, and China. Thick smoke hides nearly all of Laos, where the highest concentration of fires is located. In southern China and northern Vietnam, the smoke has sunk into the valleys that crisscross the mountainous terrain; only the highest ridgelines, which appear dark green, emerge from the blanket of smoke. The smoke sails above a bank of clouds at upper right as a dingy, yellowish haze. Fires have been burning in the region for more than month, as shown by the high carbon monoxide levels observed by NASA’s MOPITT sensor during March 2007.

In addition to carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, fires produce tiny particles of incompletely burned, or charred, carbon. According to research published in mid-March 2007 in the Journal of Geophysical Research, significant amounts of this black carbon travel across the Pacific Ocean to North America at altitudes above 2 kilometers. In spring 2004, between 25-35 gigatons (roughly 55 to 77 million pounds) of black carbon crossed the Pacific and entered skies over western North America between March 26 and April 25; nearly 75 percent of it came from Asia. (Smoke and other pollution have no respect for borders; for example, scientists have also documented smoke pollution from fires in Alaska and Canada crossing the Atlantic and entering skies over Europe.).... "

[Mapguy]

To see a visual image of the fires burning throughout different parts of Southeast Asia and read interesting commentary search the earthobservatory.nasa.gov website:

This is comment for a image of Cambodia from this month, Feb 9, 2008 (called "Fires in Cambodia"):

"Agriculture-related fires are common in Southeast Asia in late winter, which is the middle of the area's dry season. This image from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Aqua satellite on February 9, 2009. Places where the sensor detected active fires are outlined in red. An arc of hundreds of individual fires wraps around the northern part of Cambodia, north of the Tônlé Sab lake. Grassy areas appear light tan, and the country's remaining tropical forests appear lush green.

The fires probably have diverse causes, including forest clearing for crops, and maintenance of existing pasture, cropland, and unimproved roads and paths. In addition, people set fires in the forest regions to increase the yield of natural resins that are produced by rainforest trees, to hunt, and to drive bees away from their hives so that honey can be collected. Of course, intentionally lit fires sometimes get out of control, and some of the fires in this scene could be the result of accident or negligence, just as they sometimes are in the United States."

***

& you can also find a map showing all of Southeast Asia entitled "Fires and Thick Smoke Across Southeast Asia" from the 2007, which was particularly bad in Chiang mai:

"Vehicles and power plants are not the only sources of air pollution and greenhouses gases: fires contribute, too. In the Northern Hemisphere spring, which is the end of dry season across much of Southeast Asia, thousands of fires burn each year as people clear cropland and pasture in anticipation of the upcoming wet (growing) season. Intentional fires also escape people's control and burn into adjacent forest. The smoke from these fires crosses the Pacific Ocean, affecting climate far away.

This dramatic photo-like image of fires and smoke in Southeast Asia was captured on April 2, 2007, by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Aqua satellite. MODIS detected hundreds, possibly thousands of fires (marked in red), burning in Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, and China. Thick smoke hides nearly all of Laos, where the highest concentration of fires is located. In southern China and northern Vietnam, the smoke has sunk into the valleys that crisscross the mountainous terrain; only the highest ridgelines, which appear dark green, emerge from the blanket of smoke. The smoke sails above a bank of clouds at upper right as a dingy, yellowish haze. Fires have been burning in the region for more than month, as shown by the high carbon monoxide levels observed by NASA's MOPITT sensor during March 2007.

In addition to carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, fires produce tiny particles of incompletely burned, or charred, carbon. According to research published in mid-March 2007 in the Journal of Geophysical Research, significant amounts of this black carbon travel across the Pacific Ocean to North America at altitudes above 2 kilometers. In spring 2004, between 25-35 gigatons (roughly 55 to 77 million pounds) of black carbon crossed the Pacific and entered skies over western North America between March 26 and April 25; nearly 75 percent of it came from Asia. (Smoke and other pollution have no respect for borders; for example, scientists have also documented smoke pollution from fires in Alaska and Canada crossing the Atlantic and entering skies over Europe.).... "

Up-to-date information on Chiang Mai is located here at FIRMS (Fire Information for Resource Management System) based at the University of Maryland, USA, and supported by NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration of the USA:

http://maps.geog.umd.edu/firms/

The latest report I have received specifically on the Doi Suthep - Pui area includes four fires of a size sufficient enough to be recorded by two satellites, Aqua and Terra. Size of fires and cloud cover do indeed seem important. In any case, FIRMS doesn't apparently pick up the smaller blazes typical of the OP. The coordinates of the current fires reported are attached.

FirePoints_022109_2285.xls

Edited February 23, 2009 by Mapguy

[Maccheroncini]

Praying for big rain

Edited February 23, 2009 by Maccheroncini

[lannarebirth]

The fires I have seen in Chiang Mai this year are but a tiny fraction of what I have seen in years past. By contrast, driving through Lampang province yesterday, I saw no less than 200 fires covering several thousand rai of both forest and private lands (this in just a few hours observation). Sukothai province much the same. I really believe the measures to curb fires here in Chiang Mai are beginning to show good results, but none of that means anything if surrounding provinces do not make similar efforts.

[scotbeve]

The fires I have seen in Chiang Mai this year are but a tiny fraction of what I have seen in years past. By contrast, driving through Lampang province yesterday, I saw no less than 200 fires covering several thousand rai of both forest and private lands (this in just a few hours observation). Sukothai province much the same. I really believe the measures to curb fires here in Chiang Mai are beginning to show good results, but none of that means anything if surrounding provinces do not make similar efforts.

Looks nasty here (in front of my house east of Mae Sa valley looking west)

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?s=...t&p=2564735

[lannarebirth]

The fires I have seen in Chiang Mai this year are but a tiny fraction of what I have seen in years past. By contrast, driving through Lampang province yesterday, I saw no less than 200 fires covering several thousand rai of both forest and private lands (this in just a few hours observation). Sukothai province much the same. I really believe the measures to curb fires here in Chiang Mai are beginning to show good results, but none of that means anything if surrounding provinces do not make similar efforts.

Looks nasty here (in front of my house east of Mae Sa valley looking west)

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?s=...t&p=2564735

I'm not too far from you out in Ban Mae Ann, near the Prem school. Since I wrote that, yesterday in fact, more than 300 rai was burned surrounding my approximately 100 rai. Fortunately, we had cut firbreaks all around and suffered little damage, but the forest is barren now. My staff tell me two men with rifles set the fire to chase out whatever animals the could for the curry pot. They saw them walking right behind the fireline. I'm glad I wasn't there or there might be a "may he RIP" thread about me in the Chiang Mai forum today.

[scotbeve]

The fires I have seen in Chiang Mai this year are but a tiny fraction of what I have seen in years past. By contrast, driving through Lampang province yesterday, I saw no less than 200 fires covering several thousand rai of both forest and private lands (this in just a few hours observation). Sukothai province much the same. I really believe the measures to curb fires here in Chiang Mai are beginning to show good results, but none of that means anything if surrounding provinces do not make similar efforts.

Looks nasty here (in front of my house east of Mae Sa valley looking west)

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?s=...t&p=2564735

I'm not too far from you out in Ban Mae Ann, near the Prem school. Since I wrote that, yesterday in fact, more than 300 rai was burned surrounding my approximately 100 rai. Fortunately, we had cut firbreaks all around and suffered little damage, but the forest is barren now. My staff tell me two men with rifles set the fire to chase out whatever animals the could for the curry pot. They saw them walking right behind the fireline. I'm glad I wasn't there or there might be a "may he RIP" thread about me in the Chiang Mai forum today.

Maybe you might have lannarebirth, you just might have. I stopped a land owner from burning some shrubs and a VERY large tree remnants he cleared and piled. His wife, complete with all the gold around her neck and wrists and a nice new hat, was assisting him. I was driving back home and saw them beginning to fire it up and stopped, asked them not to poison the air as there is enough already and to please put it out. The guy was apologetic but his missus was jaw-jacked. The nerve of some foreign gits!!! 2 days later they tried it on during the night. We asked the gate guard to report any fires to this weeks fire watch. Done and scolded as well as reported to the fire cops. I honestly think that it will never stop... been here in the north for 20 years and have to say / do same thing every year - although it is getting worse...

[Mapguy]

Please see Post #9. Today's FIRMS report shows a spike to ten fires.