Much of northern Thailand as far south as Saraburi lay under a heavy blanket of haze and smoke Friday from hundreds of fires, mostly set on purpose by farmers in Thailand and Myanmar.
The crisis areas were spotted in the far North, the lower North and upper Central provinces. Saraburi, where the air quality index (AQI) touched a dangerous 104 at noon Friday, had anair pollution index of 128 which, roughly translated, means "sensitive groups such as children, older people andasthmatics should stay indoors."