Tosapol Boonpat | 21 April 2019
Illegal outdoor fires continue to occur in Mae Hong Son province despite the ban and the raging smog crisis.
In recent months, Mae Hong Son has been struggling with haze most of the time. Exposure to serious air pollution has become a threat to the health of locals.
Authorities have blamed outdoor fires as the key cause of smog.
However, illegal outdoor fires continue to be detected.
Satellite images confirmed that there were at least 23 hotspots in Mae Hong Son on Saturday. Of them, 13 were in Sop Moei district.
Kampanart Prachongpim, who heads Mae Hong Son’s forest-fire control division, said on Sunday that teams from several provinces had come to Mae Hong Son to help extinguish forest fires that were often caused by people.
At least, two bushfires extinguished on Saturday were caused by people going into the forest to collect forest produce.
According to him, by the time these forest fires were put out, about nine rai of forest reserves had been destroyed.
Link: https://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/breakingnews/30368051