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Forest fire becomes a nationwide problem. It engages all local people
throughout the country. The problem basically comes from
grass-root level and is strongly influenced by social
and economical conditions of each community. To cope
with this problem effectively, all concerned agencies
either from state or private sectors must actively
participate. Moreover full cooperation from all local
people is of utmost importance. Therefore, obtaining
cooperation from all walks of life is the key toward
success in fire management. However, taking any action
requires budget especially in fighting fire which is one
of the most costly operation. This fact always becomes
major constraint once any cooperation among Institutions
take place.
1.Cooperation with Armed Forces
Military has high potential to
support fire control operation. During El Nino’s years
when the country encountered severe fires, the military
supply manpower as well as heavy machinery particularly
aircraft to help fighting fire. Currently, the Armed
Forces maintain the following aircraft ready to fight
fires. (Table 8)
Table 7. Armed Forces’s aircrafts
ready to fight fires.
|
Armed Forces |
Aircraft Type |
Fighting Eguipment |
No. of Unit |
|
Royal Army |
Bell CH-47(Shinook)
Bell-205 (Huey) |
Bambi bucket
(9,800 litres)
Bambi bucket
(1,500 litres) |
3
7 |
|
Royal Navy |
CL-215(Amphibian) |
Built-in tank
(5,443 litres) |
2
|
|
Air Force |
C-130 (Hercules)
BT-67 (Dagota) |
MAFFS
(11,355 litres)
Built-in tank
(4,000 litres) |
1
3 |
However the Nation Park,
wildlife and Plant Conservation Department has to
shoulder the enormous cost of operations. Therefore the
department is not be able to maintain such cooperation
on a regular basis.
2.Cooperation with the Ministry of Interior.
The Ministry of Interior has played an obvious roles in
addressing forest fire. Currently there are Provincial
Forest Fire Control Committee in every province.
Unfortunately the functions of such committee still
concentrates on administrative as well as coordination
aspects.
3.Cooperation with Non-Government Organization
There is still little cooperation between
state and NGOs as far as fire control is concerned. All
of this cooperation is in small scale and at the local
level. Most of the NGOs roles in fire management are in
fire prevention campaign aspect. Few NGOs also support a
small-scale community-based fire management in some
particular villages.
4 Cooperation with Rural Community
Fire problem will not be solved without full cooperation
from local people. The Royal Forest Department has
launched all its efforts to obtain people participation
in fire management. Approximately 10,000 fire volunteers
are trained annually. Unfortunately, the poor attitude
towards forest fire is greatly due to the fact that fire
damage is limited mainly to state properties and not
likely to threaten lives and properties of people.
Therefore without financial incentive or other direct
interests, the concept of fire volunteer does not work
well in this country.
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