Forest Fires Cancel Mae Hong Son Flights

[webfact]

Forest fires cancel Mae Hong Son flights

Khajohn Boonpath

Planes are grounded in Mae Hong Son due to the poor

visibility caused by forest fires in the province.

Forest fires have cancelled four air flights from Chiang Mai to Mae Hong Son in the past two days.

Wild fires broke out around Mae Hong Son provincial town, resulting in very thick smoke with poor visibility forcing Nok Air to cancel flights on March 8.

The volume of minute particles continues to rise since the 8th and is nearly at the maximum allowed level, Peerat Ruangsuksai, chief of the Meteorological Station in Mae Hong Son said on March 9, 2011.

Nok Air has cancelled its four flights from Chiang Mai to Mae Hong Son on March 8, as well as two more flights on March 9 forcing visitors to cancel their plans. Locals complain of burning and itching eyes and officials have measured the air quality with a PM10 level of 110.1 and the Air Quality Index level at 94.0, near the maximum safe level. Above 120 PM10 and 100 AQI officials warn of health hazards.

Wild fires broke out east of Wat Phrathart Doi Kongmu and in the mountainous areas of villages in Tambon Pang Moo and Tambon Huay Pooling, the remoteness of the locations has caused firefighters great difficulty in trying access the fires.

“There are forest fires around Mae Hong Son city, but also in Pai and Pang Mapha districts, as well as along sides of Highway 1095 –Mae Hong Son –Pang Mapha-Pai,” he added.

[chiangmaimail]2011-03-09[/chiangmaimail]

[gotlost]

That time of year .Visibility is still fantastic in Chiang Mai. How long that will last is anybodies guess.

[jimbeam1]

Wild fires broke out. Hmmm, now I wonder how could that have happend?

jb1

[virtualtraveller]

Sp far the much anticipated smog has been a non event this year in Chiang Mai - you can all come back now.

[webfact]

Forest Fire Haze Stalls Air Travel in North

Air travel in the northern part of the country is being affected by haze from a forest fire in the region.

Air travel to Nan province has been affected by a forest fire haze covering most of the province. Many flights are unable to land or take off due to poor visibility.

Director of Nan Airport Navaporn Meevasana announced that airlines have changed departure and arrival times from 8 A.M. to 11 A.M., when visability is usually better.

Navaporn noted that aircrafts are equipped with navigating systems to assist with take-off and landing despite low visibility conditions. Normally, pilots can operate in 1,500-meter visibility or higher.

Meanwhile, the local Natural Resources and Environment office has reported that forest fires in Mae Hong Son province are not as critical.

A heatwave in the region is said to be the root cause of various forest fires which have recently ignited.

The officials also noted that some of the haze that is covering most of the province comes from a neighboring country.

According to latest reports, Nok Air has canceled all of its flights in the region until further notice.

-- Tan Network 2011-03-10