Fire ripped through rubber plantations and eucalyptus gardens in Bueng Kan province, northern Thailand, on February 7.

Taew Sonpo, 55, a villager whose rubber plantation was burned, said: ‘I don’t know the cause of the fire because I was staying at a townhouse two kilometres away from the rubber plantation.’

After a neighbour told her about the fire, she called the emergency services.

It took the firemen two hours to extinguish the fire. They said it was difficult as they had to stay distant from the plantation to reach the flames.

Rubber plantation workers and monks near the area also joined in. Some villagers swept away the grasses and leaves to create a one to two-metre gap that would be a bunker against the fire.

A further 44 rai of rubber plantation and eucalyptus gardens were burnt in the process.

Police are now investigating the cause of the fire.