Thread: Forest fires in Chiang Mai made the city the world’s 8th most polluted on Saturday

Air quality in Chiang Mai province was measured at 153 on the US AQI listing on Saturday, being ranked as having the world’s 8th worst air quality, as forest fires rage and 150 hotspots were detected, according to the Pollution Control Department.


The most polluted city on Saturday, according to the US AQI, was Calcutta, with air quality being measured at 215, followed by Dhaka in Bangladesh (196), Lahore in Pakistan (184), Kathmandu in Nepal (180), Yangon (174), Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan (157), Krakow in Poland (154) and Chiang Mai (153).


The average level of PM2.5 across the entire province of Chiang Mai was 58.6µg/m³ on Saturday, which exceeds the safe threshold 37.5µg/m³.


Mae Chaem district recorded the most hotspots (48), followed by 27 in Hot district, 24 in Mae Wang, 19 in Chom Thong, 12 in Doi Tao, 3 in Chai Prakan, Omkoi, Mae Taeng and Galyani Vadhana, two in Phrao and Hang Dong, one in Samoeng and Mae Rim.


The worst forest fires were reported in Mae Chaem, where they have been raging uncontrollably across vast tracts of the mountainous areas throughout the night and into the day.


Villagers have blamed the fires on a mistake by officials responsible for forest fuel management, when they burned the fuel without building fire breaks as a precautionary measure first, allowing the fires to spread rapidly.


More firefighters have been mobilised to help control the forest fires.

Forest fires in Chiang Mai made the city the world's 8th most polluted on Saturday | Thai PBS World : The latest Thai news in English, News Headlines, World News and News Broadcasts in both Thai and English. We bring Thailand to the world

Thai Government Approves 272 Million Baht Project to Tackle PM 2.5 Dust and Wildfires in 17 Northern Provinces

On March 3rd, 2024, Ms. Kanika Aunjit, the Thai deputy government spokeswoman, held a press conference after the Thai cabinet meeting on approval of the annual budget for fiscal year 2024, with a total of 272 million baht assigned to a project to solve wildfire and smog problems and reduce PM 2.5 dust.


Meanwhile, 17 provinces in northern Thailand faced PM 2.5 problems at a concerning level as wildfires negatively affected locals in the past few years. The Thai government gave importance to the issues and raised the issue of PM 2.5 as a national agenda, remarked Kanika.


The area of 17 northern provinces is the center of Thailand with a large number of citizens living there and is an economic hub. However, the air pollution issue was from wildfires, agricultural burning, smog from neighboring countries, traffic and transportation, and business industries, according to Kanika.

The government project aimed to solve wildfire and smog problems to tackle PM 2.5 problems in 17 northern provinces, hot spots, and high-risk areas of wildfires during January-May, 2024, said Kanika.

Thai Government Approves 272 Million Baht Project to Tackle PM 2.5 Dust and Wildfires in 17 Northern Provinces - The Pattaya News

^ That news story looks like a rubber stamp from every year for the past decade.

It does. Just more blah, blah, blah.

Can’t help but to think it is the same people setting fires every year and these people are known.

Originally Posted by thailazer

That news story looks like a rubber stamp from every year for the past decade.

Yep. Same regurgitated speech every year. they have it as a cut and paste ready to go when people start to complain. Rinse and repeat.

Originally Posted by misskit

Can’t help but to think it is the same people setting fires every year and these people are known.

On my way back home from BKK last week near Nakhon Sawan big fields were burning. So the govt doesn't know who owns the well managed fields? Ahhhhh....Yeah..... Right. It's comical, but expected.

a total of 272 million baht assigned to a project to solve wildfire and smog problems and reduce PM 2.5 dust

Well since we know fuck all of it gets spent actually doing anything, it's obviously a handy little bonus to some, with Songkran drawing near and all.

Originally Posted by thailazer

That news story looks like a rubber stamp from every year for the past decade.

It is. This is what I wrote about forest fires just a week ago.

Fires where I live are an annual occurrence and premeditated. There's a 10 km road that runs from where I live to Route 24. Everyday it is used as a rubbish dump by drivers traveling it. For the local amphur to clean this up after a year of dumping will be cost a lot and is labour intensive. So what they do every year, around this time, is that they send out a tractor, towing a grass shredder down this route shredding all accessible dumped rubbish and dry vegetation. We all know that once this has been done someone will put a match to it. Always done at night. Consequently we have this annual so called 'wild fires'.
No sooner that the fire has cooled then out come the self employed rubbish collectors who collect all none perishables and take it for recycling.
Also done on the lane divider on Route 24 where road users regularly throw trash out of their car windows.