CHIANG MAI: The local authority on Sunday added three more districts to its list of disaster zones as wildfires in the area continue to rage.
The announcement now covers Chiang Dao, Mae Taeng and Chai Prakarn, in addition to Fang and Phrao districts, which were declared disaster areas on April 4.
Nirat Pongsitthavorn, the provincial governor, said the latest announcement was made due to difficulties in suppressing the fires with fatigue already affecting the first firefighters and soldiers to arrive.
He said Chiang Mai now needs more firefighters, adding that declaring more disaster zones will allow government agencies to use their own budgets to combat the fires.
However, the governor said he could not declare Chiang Mai an emergency assistance zone for victims of air pollution caused by the wildfires because there are no Ministry of Finance regulations supporting the release of funds for this purpose.
The Pollution Control Department's Centre for Air Pollution Mitigation on Sunday reported that PM2.5 levels in 36 provinces in the North, including Chiang Mai, exceeded the safe threshold of 37.5 microgrammes per cubic metre (µg/m³).
The Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency (Gistda) highlighted nine provinces with levels between 78.9 and 126.1 µg/m³. Chiang Mai ranked the worst at 126.1 µg/m³, followed by Chiang Rai (113.3 µg/m³), Phayao (108 µg/m³), Nan (104.5 µg/m³) and Mae Hong Son (104 µg/m³).
Once again, IQAir rated Chiang Mai as having the world's worst air when the level reached 190 µg/m³ at 2.10pm
Gistda also reported 1,279 hot spots in the North, including 100 in rice and cornfields.
Dr Piamlap Saengsayan, head of the pulmonary medicine department of the Central Chest Institute of Thailand, told the media on Sunday that there is no clear evidence that PM2.5 is a main cause of lung cancer.
However, studies have shown that cells in any part of the body can become cancerous if exposed to high levels of pollution for a long time.
The human body naturally responds to PM2.5 particles by creating free radicals that react with cells, resulting in inflammation, and it is this process that leads to cancer, said Dr Piamlap.