Doi Suthep Burning!

[seeker108]

Driving home last night at around 8 PM toward Mae Rim on canal road I could not help but notice a huge circle of flame encompassing about 1/3 of the eastern slope of Doi Suthep. I had just been talking with my assistant about the negative affects of all of the burning when I suddenly saw this. It had obviously started at some point in the center of the dark circle and was spreading in all directions as there was not much wind.

The already burned and dark area encompassed thousands of acres and just the outer rim of this huge circle was burning brightly. it gave a strange glow to the twilight. My assistant said she had never seen or heard of a fire that big in this area. Did anyone see it or see anything on the news about it? A real shame as obviously much of the forest on that side of the mountain has been destroyed.

[Nilapat]

I noticed it too. It seemed like a really huge area.

I didn't catch anything about it on the news.

[chanchao]

> A real shame as obviously much of the forest on that side of the

> mountain has been destroyed.

No, no it's not THAT big a deal. Mostly it's dry grassy bits and some shrubs that slowly burn. Trees don't burn. (Some theories are that it's actually good for trees).

It's quite common this time of year. What you describe does sound a bit more spread out than usual, but does not sound 'bigger' than ususal in terms of fire intensity.

Cheers,

Chanchao

[Nilapat]

They just reported the fires on channel 3. All they said was that there was a large fire and that officials had now managed to get it under control.

[groo]

drove up today, didnt see any burning. there was some prayers being done for some VIP up there with hundreds of monks reciting prayers. like chanchao mentioned, its "normal" burning that goes on around this time of the year.

[Ajarn]

No, no it's not THAT big a deal. Mostly it's dry grassy bits and some shrubs that slowly burn. Trees don't burn. (Some theories are that it's actually good for trees).

Yes, they do burn. Not always, maybe not even mostly, but they do burn. Especially the pine trees planted all over Suthep and other areas. And if you have group of pine trees that go up together, chances are that everything else around will go up, too.

This is from a research paper on forest fires in Thailand

Fire has long been playing the significant role in most of our forest ecosystems, and the impacts caused by fire are very significant. However, the degree of damage caused by fire depends on the type of fire as well as the type of forest burnt. The deciduous forests are prone to fire and have long been subjected to annual burn by surface fire. Therefore these forests are well-adapted to fire and are fire-resistant. Surface fire is usually not lethal to mature tree. However, too frequent burn impedes and retards the natural regeneration, and alters the forest structure. Repeatedly burned forests will gradually deteriorate, change into more arid community and eventually into grassland dominated by Imperata cylindrica.

In evergreen forests fires cause abrupt and very severe damages. Fires kill more that 50% of mature trees, and completely destroy all sapling and undergrowth. In addition, fires drastically increase soil erosion as well as surface runoff. Fires also destroy food and habitat of wildlife, hence jeopardize the functioning of the whole forest ecosystem.

Edited April 3, 2006 by Ajarn

[SamSipEt]

Driving home last night at around 8 PM toward Mae Rim on canal road I could not help but notice a huge circle of flame encompassing about 1/3 of the eastern slope of Doi Suthep. I had just been talking with my assistant about the negative affects of all of the burning when I suddenly saw this. It had obviously started at some point in the center of the dark circle and was spreading in all directions as there was not much wind.

The already burned and dark area encompassed thousands of acres and just the outer rim of this huge circle was burning brightly. it gave a strange glow to the twilight. My assistant said she had never seen or heard of a fire that big in this area. Did anyone see it or see anything on the news about it? A real shame as obviously much of the forest on that side of the mountain has been destroyed.

I recall seeing a fire at about the same spot April last year. Hope it was only leaves and dead grass – I love trees!

[seeker108]

Can't say for sure due to the distance I was from the fire, but my thought at the time was that the ring of fire was so intensely strong and high that even the big trees were being consumed wholesale. My first thought was that hopefully just the ground cover was burning, but it just seemd far too intense for that hope. I am afraid in this case the lack of intensity was only in my description, not in the fire itself. It was a very intense forest fire, I am sorry to say. I am glad to hear that it did not reach the temple. It may be that the fire was north of the temple area.

I hope there was less damage to the ecosystem that what it seemed like to me last night.

Edited April 3, 2006 by seeker108

[Dustoff]

~

In some fifty years of forest fire training and so-called control, I have come to realize that a forest cannot burn more than it is supposed to, even with human intervention. It also cannot burn less than it is supposed to, even with human intervention.

Fire is a good thing overall; even if we see it as a temporary disaster...

Got a match...?

[...Ken]

~

In some fifty years of forest fire training and so-called control, I have come to realize that a forest cannot burn more than it is supposed to, even with human intervention. It also cannot burn less than it is supposed to, even with human intervention.

Fire is a good thing overall; even if we see it as a temporary disaster...

Got a match...?

My gawd man......such blasphemy !

Aye.....there is nothings as fine as dropping a 4 foot stick with the top a burning as bright as a blazing beacon..........and 12 weeks later seeing the deer contentedly grazing on new green sprouts.

...Ken

[meadish_sweetball]

~

In some fifty years of forest fire training and so-called control, I have come to realize that a forest cannot burn more than it is supposed to, even with human intervention. It also cannot burn less than it is supposed to, even with human intervention.

Fire is a good thing overall; even if we see it as a temporary disaster...

Got a match...?

Can you please expand a little on the subject? Are you saying that there would be as many fires here around Chiang Mai even if people did not deliberately set the forests alight? That does not sound all that logical to me, but maybe if you explained it in detail, it would make sense...

[Dustoff]

~

In some fifty years of forest fire training and so-called control, I have come to realize that a forest cannot burn more than it is supposed to, even with human intervention. It also cannot burn less than it is supposed to, even with human intervention.

Fire is a good thing overall; even if we see it as a temporary disaster...

Got a match...?

Can you please expand a little on the subject? Are you saying that there would be as many fires here around Chiang Mai even if people did not deliberately set the forests alight? That does not sound all that logical to me, but maybe if you explained it in detail, it would make sense...

Sorry, I was thinking in the long term. Fire is a very natural and necessary event. And the frequency, duration and intensity of forest fires depend upon food for the fire itself; the constantly gathering dry branches and leaves on the ground from the trees themselves.

No, I was not saying that there would be 'as many' fires without human intervention, just that the overall amount of burning cannot really change. There will be a natural amount of burning that WILL happen and when people change the frequency, they also alter the duration and intensity of future fires.

In short, if attempts are made to prevent fires, the result is a fire that will certainly do severe damage to even healthy mature trees. If fires are started more often than by nature (if you consider humanity "unnatural"), the effect is usually only cosmetic. In fact if there has been a relatively recent fire, one would be hard pressed to get one started again.

Fire actually does more good than most people imagine and one of them is to burn off the lower branches/leaves of adult trees that are no longer getting much sun anyway and relieving the upper body of needless burden which makes for a healthier/taller tree.

Yo Mamma Nature loves fires! "A bolt of lightning" in American cliche means roughly 'A sudden, usually unpredicted, stroke of fortune'..

As in reading the majority of your posts, Sweaty Beefball.. The pleasure is mine..

All of this in my humble opinion, of course..