Second volunteer dies in a week while fighting forest fires

A volunteer firefighter has been found dead near his cashew plantation, next to a community forest in Wang Chin district of the northern province of Phrae, after he was reported missing while working with other volunteers to contain a forest fire.

Prawit Jaikham, chief of Wiang Kosai National Park, said yesterday that he received a report at about 9.30pm on Saturday from the village head of Ban Pang Mai in Pasak sub-district, stating that Decha Tathika, one of the volunteer firefighters involved in efforts to prevent a fire in a community forest from spreading to their village and farmland, had failed to return home.

A search was launched the following day, and Decha’s body was found lying in the forest. The body has been taken to Wang Chin District Hospital for an autopsy.

Decha is the second volunteer to die in the past week. On April 1, Boonma Phadaeng was found dead in a forest in Mae Rim district of Chiang Mai after he was reported missing while trying to contain forest fires with a group of firefighters and volunteers.