Hundreds of firefighters tackling fires in western forest complex

About 250 firefighters have been deployed by the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation to prevent fires in the western forest complex from spreading. So far, 1,600 hectares of forest have been damaged as the Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency (GISTDA) issues warnings of the threat of forest fires in nine provinces.

According to the department, more than 200 hotspots were detected in the western forest complex in the past week, particularly in the Salak Phra Wildlife Sanctuary, but the numbers have been reduced to about 60 by 250 firefighters who, with the support of helicopters, have been deployed to stop them from spreading.

Narupon Thipmontha, chief of the department’s Forest Fire Prevention and Control Office, said that forest fires have started about two weeks earlier this year, due to the dry weather and access to the forests by…