Dozens of planes and thousands of personnel fighting huge forest fires in Indonesia are struggling to contain them, authorities said on Monday (21st September), while neighbouring Malaysia stepped up efforts to combat toxic haze.
The government has deployed 64 aircraft and 54,000 personnel to the islands of Borneo and Sumatra since last month to tackle the fires with water bombing, Indonesian Cabinet Secretary Teddy Indra Wijaya said.
“From the air to the ground, all forces continue to move. Everything is being done to extinguish the fires, reduce the impact of the smoke, and, most importantly, protect the public from the threat of forest and land fires,” Wijaya said.
But Wijaya added that “the vast size of the territory and the challenging conditions of peatlands pose serious difficulties in dealing with forest and land fires in various regions.”
The hazardous smoke has blanketed parts of Indonesia, as well as Malaysia and Singapore, for weeks. West Kalimantan province, on Borneo, is one of the worst affected areas. The province’s disaster mitigation agency said the varying depths of fires burning within peat soils were making them difficult to extinguish, as peatland fires can smoulder underground for long periods and reignite even after surface flames appear to be under control.
Agency spokesman Daniel Sinyor said limited access to water was a further obstacle for ground teams: “Another challenge is the limited water sources available to this ground task force. In general, water sources decrease or even disappear in areas affected by the fires.”
Last week, Indigenous and civil society groups in West Kalimantan filed a class action lawsuit against the government, including the president and the governor, for allegedly failing to prevent the fires. The groups’ lawyer, Glorio Sanen, said in a statement at the time that “This is a disaster that occurs every year. This recurring pattern proves our view that the defendants knew about the potential haze disaster and the risks of disaster from forest and land fires.”
Around 350 members of Japan’s Self-Defense Forces arrived in West Kalimantan this month to assist with firefighting, including helicopters for water bombing. Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto has also expressed readiness to accept assistance from Malaysia.
In Malaysia, haze from the fires, combined with dry conditions, has pushed air pollution to unhealthy levels in several cities. Authorities launched cloud seeding operations in three southern states on Monday to “ensure the continuity of water supply and the sustainability of water resources” and help clear some of the haze, the national meteorological office said. The operations aim to induce rainfall that can help disperse haze while supporting water resources during dry weather.
Kuala Lumpur recorded a reading of 156 on the country’s Air Pollutant Index. Under national guidelines, readings above 100 are considered unhealthy, while those of 300 or higher are classified as hazardous. Kuching, on Borneo island, which Malaysia shares with Indonesia and Brunei, recorded a reading of 157.
Indonesia regularly battles wildfires during the dry season, which typically runs from July – October, but the blazes are more intense this year. This coincides with what is expected to be the strongest El Nino climate phenomenon since comparable records began four decades ago. Experts also blame climate change, decades of forest degradation, and slash and burn land clearing practices that have changed the naturally fire resistant landscape.
More than 202,000 hectares of land were burned across Indonesia between January and July, according to the government. The Nusantara Atlas project put the figure at close to 300,000 hectares over the same period and estimated that the total area affected had reached nearly 896,000 hectares when including August.
About the Author
