Despite feeling bitter from being arrested and falsely condemned as an arsonist, 56-year-old Boonpan Saenkhammuen went back to fight the raging fires on Doi Luang Mountain in Chiang Dao Wildlife Sanctuary the next day.
He said the sacred Doi Luang Mountain is his home, and it's his duty to protect it.
Amid the worst haze ever in the North caused by the continued spread of forest fires, many news agencies came up with banner headlines, claiming the Doi Luang arsonist had finally been caught red-handed. Social media users quickly picked the stories up, seasoning them with condemnation, which triggered a string of hateful comments directed at Mr Boonpan -- some even wishing him dead.
His arrest came a few days after the junta leader blamed the toxic air and forest fires on poachers. He ordered a quick arrest, and forest authorities immediately came up with a "criminal", Mr Boonpan.
Was it a coincidence?
No. Mr Boonpan was not an arsonist -- he was just a scapegoat.
When he was arrested, he had just returned home exhausted after fighting the fires on Doi Luang for four straight days. That was before the wildfires had made headlines, while officials had yet to arrive at the scene.
When Mr Boonpan saw the fires spreading quickly downhill, he used a common fire-fighting method of highlanders -- clearing a path with a fire to create a fire break.
He said he had already informed firefighters of his plan, but he was arrested all the same.
Mr Boonpan was lucky. At least he was not killed, seriously injured, or left disabled from fighting the forest fires, as many have been before him.
When wildfires strike, nearby communities have always been at the forefront -- risking their lives to save their forests. Since natural forest fires occur every year, they also devote their time and energy to creating fire breaks to minimise the damage.
Yet, the government and the public view them as "illegal encroachers" -- enemies of the forest who must be evicted.
With the expansion of corn plantations in the North and in neighbouring countries to supply the animal feed industry, the ensuing rapid deforestation has caused the mercury to rise and dried the air, causing more destructive forest fires and toxic haze.
One thing is clear: The situation won't get any better if the government and the public still treat the locals like dirt, dismissing their contribution to forest conservation and regarding them as criminals.
Yet, I'm certain the highlanders will continue doing what Mr Boonpan did. No matter how the much they are vilified, they will still risk their lives fighting the wildfires because the forest is their home.
The fact that this year's haze is the worst ever has only seen the finger of blame being pointed even more at local villagers, as they are the easiest target.
City dwellers don't want to change their lifestyles that produce hazardous air particles, and the junta doesn't want to upset the main culprits -- agro giants and the fossil fuel industry -- which support the regime. The Bangkok-based bureaucracy don't want to lose central power and their firefighting budget, so they blame their failures on the highlanders.
Meanwhile, the laws and education system have brainwashed the public into believing that the forests must be cleared of humans, and that the forests can only be safe under authorities' control.
Nothing can be further from the truth.
The fact is that the main destroyer of forests is the government.
First of all, human settlements are commonly found in tropical forests around the world. Their dependence on the forests has produced cultural and farming systems that treat the environment with care.
A forest fire rages in a national park in Chiang Mai in 2016. JETJARAS NA RANONG
Here are the real criminals: the government's policy to promote cash-crop plantations on frontier land, the construction of roads and big dams in forests, the granting of logging and mining concessions, and the forest-clearing policy that was aimed at destroying communist insurgents' strongholds in the 1970s.
Another major forest destroyer is the draconian forest law, which robs locals of land security -- plunging them into poverty and forcing them to serve the agro giants to survive.
Making things worse are corruption-plagued officials who turn a blind eye to the rich and powerful who steal national forests in broad daylight.
Global research has shown that natural forests are the best weapon against climate change while the best guardians of the forests are local forest communities.
Why has this important message escaped Thai policymakers? They spend so much taxpayers' money going abroad to learn the best practices for forest conservation and environmental protection. The general message is the same everywhere: transparency and people's participation. Yet these officials return home only to continue blaming the locals while tightening central control further.
Recent summer storms in the North signal that the haze season may soon be over. The big question is how to better deal with next year's haze, crop burnings, and natural wildfires.
State authorities have already issued a stern threat -- village heads will be fired and communities will be banned from forest use if there are still blazes in their areas. No support, just punishment. When the villagers lose heart, what will happen to the forests?
Given that there are only about 500 firefighters to cover 6.6 million rai of protected forest in Chiang Mai, do we think the government's dictatorial powers can keep the forests safe without community collaboration?
Meanwhile, over 1,300 communities live adjacent to the forests in Chiang Mai alone. The village of Huay Ekhang in Mae Wang district, for instance, is actively safeguarding over 5,000 rai of community forests by setting strict communal rules for forest use, working together to build fire breaks, and risking their lives to put out the fires without state support.
In Mae Chaem district, concerted community efforts have reduced burn scars from 570,000 rai to 150,000 rai in just a few years. Again, they are routinely condemned during the haze season, despite the fact that the majority of forest fires occur in areas under the forest agencies' jurisdiction.
Should we support communities which are safeguarding the forests and arm them with the resources they need, or keep pointing fingers at them when wildfires strike?
Mr Boonpan's arrest should remind us of these sad facts. First, when forest fires break out, it's villagers who are on the front lines, taking up the thankless, dangerous task of fighting the blazes. Yet they are still condemned.
Second, officialdom is as dexterous as ever in pleasing their bosses and punishing their real masters -- the people.
And third, new technology has enabled mainstream news agencies and social media to spread sensational, false stories even more quickly with a rush to judgement full of prejudice. They should understand they are a big part of the problem.
Climate change is real. Thailand, like the rest of the world, will get ever hotter. The toxic haze will worsen as long as agro giants can freely destroy forests while consumers let them off the hook. Mind you, toxic haze is just one of the problems that lie ahead if we cannot save our forests in time.
What can we do?
Start by investigating lifestyles and consumption habits that help agro giants destroy natural forests. Change those habits to hit them hard in the pocket.
Don't let top-down officialdom get away with inefficiency, corruption and injustice that hurts the forest guardians.
Ask local forest communities what they need and provide it so they can protect the forests more safely, and better still, so they can live in the forests peacefully. In return, we will have clean air and save ourselves from droughts, freak storms and flash floods.
If you benefit from their sweat and labour, you should pay for it too. And if you can't do that, then stop pointing fingers at the people who have been robbed of their land rights, yet continue to risk their lives for us all.
Sanitsuda Ekachai is former editorial pages editor, Bangkok Post.