Lessons from the B.E. 2569 fire season: Success is measured by community capacity, not just the number of fires put out

Lesson 1: The power of a “community commitment” can overcome delays in government funding

Government wildfire-fighting budgets are often not actually disbursed until May, while the most critical period is January to April. Communities that cannot afford to wait must therefore rely primarily on themselves. A clear example is Doi Chang Pa Pae (Lamphun), where every household joined together to create a firebreak more than 30 kilometres long around the forest, without waiting for central government budget approval. This lesson shows that the sustainability of wildfire prevention depends not only on the amount of funding provided, but also on a community’s ability to mobilise the entire village and get them to the front line in time.

Lesson 2: Good technology reduces the risk of loss of life; it does not just make work faster

The remotely controlled sensor and sprinkler system at Doi Chang Pa Pae, and the heat-detection drones at Ban Doi Pui (Doi Suthep-Pui), both address the same problem: in the past, volunteers had to risk their lives by going in to turn on the water or surveying the area with their own eyes amid the flames. This often led to injury or death when fires that appeared to be out flared up again from underground. Bringing in IoT and thermal drones to “see for people” and “turn on the water for them” is therefore the most worthwhile investment in terms of worker safety, rather than measuring results only by how quickly fires are put out.

Lesson 3: Donations from urban residents are a real bridge across funding gaps, not just symbolic contributions

Small equipment such as the leaf blower at Ban Huai Pla Lot (Tak), which helps reduce the time needed to make a firebreak from 1 day to a few hours; two-way radios that let volunteers contact one another in places without mobile phone coverage; and meals that help firefighting volunteers keep going for weeks are all examples of how donations from crowdfunding campaigns can be turned into practical tools that meet specific needs in the field. This lesson shows that fundraising from the public should focus on solving immediate gaps that government budgets cannot reach, rather than running large-scale projects that have to wait for funding through the usual system.

Lesson 4: Wildfire prevention can be sustainable only when forests also generate income for the people who care for them

Muak Lek Nai Community Forest (Saraburi) shows that when a community develops nature-based educational tourism alongside firebreaks, and has a clear system for allocating income to its own community forest management fund, the need to burn the forest to gather forest products or expand agricultural land naturally declines. The Nature-Positive Economy concept is therefore not just an environmental option, but an economic condition that helps younger generations in the community see the benefits of continuing to care for the forest over the long term.

Summary: Measure success by the capacity built, not just the number of fires put out

Lessons from the work of forest guardians across various areas of the Forest Guardians Project show that, amid the climate crisis, cooperation and mutual understanding between urban society and communities living in forest areas are especially significant factors. The success of wildfire management this year is therefore assessed not only quantitatively, by the number of incidents contained, but also by how technology is integrated with community capacity to build proactive defences and sustainably conserve the North’s natural resources. The commitment of local personnel working together with support from external sectors, as well as the development of a community economic system that enables forest care and restoration, are key to restoring ecosystems to abundance in the future.