A wildfire that has scorched 300 rai in Narathiwat province is threatening the country’s last pristine peat swamp forest as the government mobilises soldiers and rainmakers to battle the blaze.
The governor of Narathiwat and the 4th Army were deploying all resources to contain fire that began Monday in the Samed peat swamp forest in Sungai Padi district and has since sparked several other blazes.
Rainmaking officials were waiting for suitable weather conditions to make rain to assist the battle, said government spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd on Friday.
Maj Gen Sansern said the flames began two kilometres from the To Daeng peat swamp forest, the last pristine one of its kind. On Friday it was affecting the 7,000-year-old swamp covering about 120,000 rai in Sungai Kolok, Sungai Padi and Tak Bai districts of Narathiwat.
A concerned Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha offered moral support to firefighters, the spokesman said. Smoke from the fire is now creating unhealthy air conditions in Sungai Kolok and Sungai Padi districts, he said.
Soldiers use the backhoe to make a firebreak to help control wildfire in Narathiwat province on Friday. (Photo by Waedao Harai)
Firefighters are on duty around the clock. On the ground, backhoes were used to make firebreaks and dig wells for firefighters and dampen adjacent forest areas.
In the air, a helicopter was pouring water onto hot spots in Ban Lahan village in Sungai Padi district and Ban Luboh Sama village in Sungai Kolok district. The chopper with a 500-litre tank from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment was used as flames licked the edge of the To Daeng forest.
Fires were burning inside five villages in both districts. Ninety percent of the blazes are in forested areas of the Bang Nara River basin and the rest are on private farmland and the To Daeng peat swamp forest.