Big Fire Threatening Nai Harn Hotels.

[NomadJoe]

I was diving out on Koh Keaw noi and nok today and noticed some smoke coming from the small peninsula which looks on the map to be called Leam Noi. The same peninsula which the Yacht Club is on.. Soon the fire spread to where we could see the flames, Here is a pic from about 330pm, After the second dive at about 5pm, it had spread down to the water, and almost to the western most hotel where Hat Sen is. (No pic as battery was dead) One map I found calls it Jungle Beach. I sure hope they are evacuating those hotels as the fire was getting really close to them, and there is only one narrow road to exit.

[Jimi007]

Much bigger now! It getting pretty close to Ban Krating now, which is above Jungle Beach.

Edited March 23, 2013 by Jimi007

[NomadJoe]

Good thing there isn't a strong on shore wind today ot there would be big problems for the hotels and houses just east of the fire. Usually fires aren't much of a problem here but with no rain for so long the hills are looking very dry. There is a fire awareness sign along the Kata-Rawai road very near where this one started. I used to think it was silly to have a sign like that in a moist tropical jungle. Now I see why. Hopefully there will be no damage from this one, but it is heading towards the hotels east of there. Flames several meters high at times.

Edited March 23, 2013 by NomadJoe

[Jimi007]

Good thing there isn't a strong on shore wind today ot there would be big problems for the hotels and houses just east of the fire. Usually fires aren't much of a problem here but with no rain for so long the hills are looking very dry. There is a fire awareness sign along the Kata-Rawai road very near where this one started. I used to think it was silly to have a sign like that in a moist tropical jungle. Now I see why. Hopefully there will be no damage from this one, but it is heading towards the hotels east of there. Flames several meters high at times.

I was thinking the same thing about the winds as I was watching it spread. A Thai guy I know said he tried calling it in when it first started and no one could be bothered. He joked that they were all to busy drinking Lao Kao! They told him to call Rawai Or Bor Tor's office, which he did. They came and viewed it from by the wind generator, but we didn't see any action being taken. I've seen a few fires in that same area over the years, but this is the biggest by far.

[g00dgirl]

any updates?

[Jimi007]

any updates?

Just went to Ya Nui to look and it was still burning up higher on the hill, not near the resorts from what I could see. Speaking of Ya Nui, <deleted> is up with beach loungers spread three deep on that little beach? There was never anything there for years after the tsunami, now it's over run by greedy beach chair boys and restaurants that are mostly I would guess on public land...

[NomadJoe]

Yeah I just took a look too. Just a few flames up top. So long as the wind doesn't kick up it will probably go out by itself.

[Valentine]

Expect to see a lot more if the dry continues. Going back quite a few years I remember seeing lots of spontaneous bush fires around the island when we a had a dry season similar to this with the vegetation looking very dry & brown.

[fiddlehead]

I saw the fire last night and from the way it was burning (in a line from top of the hill to almost the bottom), I would say it was a prescribed burn.

They do that every year or so in that area.
I remember about 10 years ago when I was staying at a bungalow at Ao Sane and we heard these loud cracking noises, the wind had picked up and it was threatening to burn everything.
All the guests gathered at the beach (jungle) and watched it. About 50 meters before it hit the first bungalo (mine), the rains came and dumped on it to put it out.
Lucky.

Last night there was basically no wind and it looked to be burning like it had been set all along the line.

I didn't think it threatened the bungalows or resort rooms at all.