Bush fires under control near Koh Ke temple
Bush fires under control near Koh Ke temple
19 February 2018
Published by http://www.khmertimeskh.com/
CAMBODIA – A spate of bush fires near Koh Ke temple in Preah Vihear province has prompted the provincial archaeology department to reassure residents and tourists that it has the ability to contain the blazes.
For the past few weeks, numerous bush fires have been sparked near the temple grounds, leading to concern from local residents and tour guides.
Teng Samoeun, director of the provincial archaeology department, said yesterday that heritage authorities could contain any bush fires that might lead to larger forest fires.
He said there are environment and heritage officers at Koh Ke temple who have measures to control forest fires, including firefighting trucks stationed there. “We have enough measures to prevent any incidents from affecting the temple. So, we don’t have any concern for the forest fires damaging the temple or affecting tourists,” he said.
According to a vendor near the temple, some of the recent fires have been near paths leading to the temple and have seemed to spread.
“The fires continued for a long time in the forest, burnt dry leaves near the temple and also affected some rocks of the temple, but the authority seems to be negligent about that,” the vendor said. “Maybe they think the fires are normal because they happen every year during dry season.”
Phab Saron, a heritage police officer at Koh Ke temple, said the fires were caused by people who went hunting or searching for honey and lit small fires along the way.
“When fires start, some villagers put them out. In other places the forest conservation authorities put them out,” he said. “However, they cannot manage to control all of the fires, because they spread to other places through the dry leaves.”
Koh Ke Temple National Park is known as an ancient town surrounded by tens of thousands of forest lands controlled by provincial authorities. Mr Saron said authorities have been working hard to keep up with the bush fires, which sometimes spread faster than they can put them out.
“The fires start only in the forest, so it does not affect the temple or tourists,” he said.
“The authority is always able to manage this problem.”
Pen Ching, deputy governor of Kulen district, said the fires were not serious enough to spread to large trees, just dry leaves, and noted that it happened every year.
“The heritage police have one fire truck stationed there, so when there is a fire, they always extinguish it to prevent a big fire,” he said.
