Forest fires are still raging today in Tap Lan National Park in Thailand’s north-eastern province of Nakhon Ratchasima, but park officials have managed to prevent them from spreading.
Prawatsart Chanthep, chief of the national park, said yesterday that firefighters had managed to contain the fires within an area of about 80 hectares, admitting that the effort to extinguish them is being hampered by the difficult terrain on the steep mountainside.
He disclosed that park officials and village volunteers managed to put out the fires at Khao Khok Chang in the national park on February 13th. The following day, however, fires were reported on the mountainside, about a kilometre away from that location.
The park chief blamed the wildfires on loggers, who lit fires at Khao Khok Chang, hoping that, when the fires were put out, they would be able get into the forest to cut the trees down, adding that police have been trying to track down the arsonists.
He said that larger trees are not greatly affected by the fires, because they mostly consume dried leaves and branches on the forest floor.
Photo credit: รณฤทธิ์ นวนครบุรี
