Chiang mai: The government aims to end the wildfire and haze problem in northern Thailand before Songkran. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MNRE) has detected an unusually wide distribution of hotspots in northern Thailand this year. A forward operational center for forest fires and haze has been established to cover all 17 provinces, aiming to control the situation and resolve the issue before the Songkran festival.
According to Thai News Agency, Pol. Maj. Gen. Nanthachat Suphamongkol, Advisor to the Wildfire and Haze Problem Solving Operations Center (Northern Front Line), along with Mr. Rattapol Naradisorn, Governor of Chiang Mai Province; Mr. Nipon Chamnongsirisak, Deputy Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment; Mr. Atthapol Charoenchanasa, Director-General of the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation; Mr. Nikorn Sirirojananont, Director-General of the Royal Forest Department; Mr. Teerapong Wimoljitranon, Deputy Director-General of the Pollution Control Department; and Mr. Naruepon Tipmonta, Director of the Bureau of Wildfire Prevention, Suppression and Control, convened to monitor the wildfire situation.
Mr. Kritsayam Kongsatri, Director of the Protected Area Management Office 16 (Chiang Mai), and related agencies, held a meeting to emphasize seamless integration of work between the central and provincial levels to improve the efficiency of controlling protected and reserved forest areas throughout the northern region, and to upgrade incident command systems for greater speed and accuracy.
Pol. Maj. Gen. Nanthachat stated that this operation was carried out under the instructions of Mr. Suchart Chomklin, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, by mobilizing all sectors, including personnel and technology, and restructuring the management into five main departments: Personnel, Technology and Information, Policy and Finance, Logistics, and Public Relations and Medical, to support the mission of extinguishing fires in high-risk areas and reducing casualties among personnel to zero.
The Governor of Chiang Mai stated that this year's situation is highly challenging, especially during the end of March, when Chiang Mai recorded as many as 1,020 hotspots in a single day, reflecting the severity of the situation in the area. However, establishing a forward command center will help improve the efficiency of management and enable a faster response to incidents.
The Deputy Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment stated that the Northern Forward Operating Center, established on April 2, 2026, will be responsible for commanding, monitoring the situation, and coordinating cooperation across 17 provinces, with the goal of "ending the forest fire problem before Songkran," while strictly enforcing the law against those who illegally burn forests.
Monitoring has revealed that this year's hotspots are widely distributed and occur at similar times in many areas, which differs from the usual seasonal burning pattern and may indicate other underlying factors that need close investigation.
Meanwhile, the Director-General of the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation has ordered an assessment of the effectiveness of over 3,000 monitoring points nationwide, along with the upgrading of control measures in high-risk areas, including forest closures and regulating resource utilization, in order to sustainably address the problem.
The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment will continue to work at full capacity to control the wildfire and haze situation in order to bring it under control before the Songkran festival and significantly reduce the health impacts on people in the northern region.