Indonesia ‘stepping up efforts’ to control Kalimantan fires

 The disaster management agency says cloud-seeding has resumed, and more helicopters are being deployed for water bombing.

Indonesia said it has deployed hundreds of additional soldiers and firefighters to control raging forest fires which has brought smoke pollution to areas of Sarawak. (EPA Images pic)

PETALING JAYA:

The Indonesian government said today it is intensifying efforts to control forest and land fires in Kalimantan which have brought transboundary haze to neighbouring countries, especially in Sarawak.

The Indonesian national disaster management agency said it was resuming cloud-seeding to bring rain, and deploying additional helicopters, and strengthening ground firefighting operations.

“With all these efforts, we are optimistic that together we can soon bring the forest and land fires in Kalimantan under control,” the agency’s chief, Lt Gen Suharyanto said in a statement in Jakarta, the Antara news agency reported.

The agency has 30 helicopters on standby for water-bombing operations and aerial patrols in Kalimantan, while ground operations are being reinforced with additional protective equipment, high-pressure water pumps, and up to 100 water tanker trucks for each province, depending on requirements.

Hotspots in Kalimantan and Sumatra have caused transboundary smoke haze, leading to ‘unhealthy’ to ‘very unhealthy’ levels of air quality in Kalimantan, Sarawak, and Sumatra. (ASMC pic)

Suharyanto said forest and land fires in Kalimantan posed particular challenges as many occurred on peatlands, where embers could remain beneath the surface even when fires appeared to have been extinguished.

Indonesia has also been in communication with neighbouring countries over the potential cross-border impact of haze from its forest and land fires, according to national secretariat minister Prasetyo Hadi.

Prasetyo said communication had taken place both informally and through formal channels led by foreign minister Sugiono. “We are trying to deal with these forest and land fires as quickly as possible,” he said on Sunday, according to Antara news agency.

The national disaster management agency said the government continued to monitor the potential impact of transboundary haze and coordinate across ministries and agencies in line with developments on the ground.

Prasetyo said on Saturday that West Kalimantan continued to record widespread hotspot activity. Authorities had detected 3,100 medium-confidence and 406 low-confidence hotspots mainly concentrated in regencies in the southern and eastern parts of the province.

He said four corporations in West Kalimantan were also under investigation over suspected violations linked to the forest and land fires.

Following instructions from president Prabowo Subianto, Indonesia announced on Saturday the deployment of about 1,500 additional military personnel and six large water-bombing helicopters to reinforce firefighting operations in West Kalimantan. - FMT