Fires push Mae Hong Son pollution to 150mg
Fire-fighters and volunteers in Mae Hong Son are battling brush fires along highways and on mountains day and night despite woodlands being officially sealed off.
The fires have for almost five consecutive days smothered the northern province in a haze of small-particle dust that is hazardous to human health, topping the 120-microgram-per-cubic-metre safety threshold.
The Pollution Control Department reported the level at 128 micrograms on Saturday, 136 on Sunday, 133 on Monday, 120 on Tuesday and 150 on Wednesday.
Readings in other northern provinces were within the safe level on Wednesday.
Preecha Thajakan, supervisor of Mae Surin Waterfall National Park, said officials were fighting blazes along Highway 1095 in Tambon Huai Pong in Muang district and in Tambon Khun Yuam in Khun Yuam district.
But most forest fires are appearing on steep mountainsides, inaccessible to fire-fighters, he said, and are left to burn themselves out.
Colonel Worathep Boonya, commander of the 17th Infantry Regiment’s Special Task Force, said his troops were patrolling wooded border areas on the lookout for both fires and contraband smugglers.
He said the mission on Doi Yamoo in Tambon Pha Bong in Muang district was going well.