The images of a forest fire which a Thai outlet reported as spreading from Cambodia. Pursat authorities have denied the allegations. The Nation Thailand/ANN
The Pursat Provincial Environment Department has denied a report published on Tuesday, February 11, by Thai website The Nation Thailand, stating that the forest fires in question occurred in Thailand, not Cambodia.
The department issued a statement following the publication of an article titled “Fires from Cambodia Ravage Banthat Mountain Forests in Trat, Causing Landmine Explosions”, which included images of the blaze.
“The environment department completely denies and rejects the above report and wishes to clarify that the images published by the Thai website The Nation Thailand depict forest fires in Thailand,” said the statement.
The department acknowledged that there were small-scale grass, brush and reed fires in Veal Veng’s Thma Da commune.
However, it highlighted that these fires occurred in areas without dense forests or large trees, as suggested in the Thai report.
The Pursat provincial administration intervened promptly, implementing measures to contain and extinguish the fires, ensuring they did not spread or endanger people, animals or biodiversity, noted the department.
“The forest fire on Banthat Mountain in Trat province, Thailand, is unrelated to Cambodia, contrary to what was reported. The Royal Government of Cambodia, particularly the Ministry of Environment and local authorities, closely monitor forest fires and would not allow such incidents to escalate to the point of endangering Cambodian citizens,” added the department.
The Nation reported that forest fires spreading from Cambodia into Thailand’s Banthat Mountains on Monday afternoon had devastated vast forested areas in four tambons – subdistricts – of Trat province by Tuesday morning.
Firefighters managed to create buffer zones to protect orchards and homes in Tha Kum, Ta Kang, Chamrak, and Laem Klud, but had yet to extinguish the fires completely, it stated.
“Local residents first spotted the fires spreading across the mountain watershed from Cambodia at around 3pm on Monday,” claimed the article.
The Nation also cited the Trat Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Office, which deployed 10,000 liters of water to aid firefighters in battling the blaze.
It quoted Mueang Trat district chief Kriangkrai Panyapongsathorn as saying that by Tuesday, one-third of the forests in the affected tambons had burned.
Efforts to control the fires in Tha Kum and Ta Kang remained challenging due to landmine contamination, with extreme heat triggering multiple explosions, it added.
