Rangers in Thailand’s Phitsanulok province have arrested a 22-year-old man found in suspicious circumstances in the Kaeng Hat Oi forest following a series of fires. He admitted setting the blazes to relieve boredom.
During questioning at the police station, the man, identified only as Matina, confessed that he had started the fires himself.
He said: “I did it for amusement. I had nothing to do, so I lit fires so that the rangers would come to put them out.”
Rangers transferred the suspect to the police, where a case has been registered against him for causing damage to natural resources.
He remains in custody, while officials have yet to announce any punishment.
Thailand is already grappling with forest fires caused by natural factors and human negligence, but this is the first reported instance of a fire being set purely for amusement.
