The Mekong Delta province of An Giang is facing the fifth level of forest fire risk, the extreme danger level, according to the provincial Forest Protection Sub-department.
A wildfire on Khao Tabaek mountain in Thailand’s Nakhon Nayok province, which began on April 10, has spread to a border area of Khao Yai National Park, the park chief Chaiya Huayhongthong has said.
A total of 3,768 potential wildfire hotspots were detected across Thailand in a day, making a new record for 2023, according to the Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency (Gistda).
President Nguyen Xuan Phuc and Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on August 13 sent messages of sympathy to their respective French counterpart Emmanuel Macron and Élisabeth Borne over the huge losses in assets and natural resources caused by recent forest fires in France.
Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan has asked municipal and provincial People’s Committees to take drastic measures to ensure forest fire prevention amid extremely hot weather.
More than 44,500 ha of forest in the Mekong Delta province of Ca Mau is at high risk of catching fire due to a prolonged hot spell and drought, according to the forest ranger division under the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.
The Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang is taking measures to retain its forest coverage rate at 11 percent, according to its Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.
More than 43,500 ha of forest in the Mekong Delta province of Ca Mau is at high risk of fire during the existing dry season, which began in November and will last until the end of May, according to the province’s Forest Protection Sub-department.
The Royal Thai Army has deployed an MI-17 helicopter to transport tractors, trucks, and heavy machinery up to Phu Kradueng to support firefighting operations.
Thailand’s Air Force Chief ACM Manat Wongwat has deployed an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to join in an operation to put out a forest fire in the central province of Nakhon Nayok.
The Indonesian government is set to receive some 315 trillion IDR (22.5 billion USD) from a number of corporates in the forest fire public lawsuit, according to the Environment and Forestry Ministry (KLHK).
The number of Indonesians suffering respiratory problems or ISPA caused by smoke from forest and peatland fires blanketing parts of Borneo and Sumatra in the past few months has reached over 919,000, according to Indonesia’s National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) spokesman Agus Wibowo.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo said on September 17 that about 5,600 additional military personnel have been deployed to help 9,000 people currently fighting bush fires which have razed more than 328,700 hectares of land nationwide.
Indonesia’s Ministry of Forestry and Environment on September 15 closed more than 30 plantation companies in Kalimantan and Sumatra as part of efforts to minimise wildfires.
A satellite image showed thick haze from a forest fire in Indonesia spreading into Malacca Strait, Singapore and Malaysia on September 14, according to the Indonesian meteorology and geophysics agency.
The forest fire task force of Indonesia’s Riau province has deployed four helicopters to douse the forest fires raging across the southern part of the province on Sumatra Island.
Environment
