Indonesia: Forest Fires Continue to Ravage East and Central Java

SP/Nanda Aries Jakarta Globe 1 Oct 12;

Forest fires that have razed the Arjuno Mountain in East Java during the past month have burned hundreds of hectares of forest land in the Pasuruan and Malang districts. The blazes have now spread to Batu city and the Mojokerto district.

New hotspots were detected in Block Nggabes, forest areas in Tulungrejo and Giripuro, and villages in the Bumiaji subdistrict in Kota Batu.

Gatot Sundoro, the head of the R. Soerjo Forest Park Malang-Pasuruan division, told reporters that the fires have burned an estimated 800 hectares of forest in Pasuruan, Malang, Kota Batu and Mojokerto. Some of the fires in Lawang and Pasuruan have started to diminish but some have also spread, moving westward and southward.

Gatot said that he and his men were having difficulties containing the fires that were spreading to the touristic city of Batu due to visibility problems from the thick smoke. He added that he could only pray that the fire in Nggabes doesn’t spread farther.

Meanwhile, fires also burned 2.5 hectares of teak forest in Pemangku Hutan Resort (RPH) in Malang from Thursday night until Friday. The forest is located next to Jalan Raya Karangkates, the border of the districts of Malang and Blitar. The forest fire is believed to have stemmed from a fire that was intentionally lit by an irresponsible person in the area.

“It seems like somebody had intentionally [set] fire to the bushes near the road,” said Agus Salim, head of the RPH Sukowilangun, on Friday night.

Although there were no casualties or material losses caused by the fire, the condition of the teak trees worsened.

“The land that got burned had actually been given fertilizer. [The fire] is causing the land’s contour and fertility [to] become [limited].” he said.

RPH officers were forced to contain the fire manually using tree branches.

“It’s difficult to extinguish it with water. The way to do it is by hitting it with branches,” Agus said. He was relieved that he and his men were able to extinguish the fire by midday on Friday.

Meanwhile, in Karanganyar, Central Java, more than 500 hectares of forests and tree nurseries burned on the slopes of Mount Lawu.

Aji Pratama, head of the Karanganyar Disaster Mitigation Agency, said the extremely dry conditions and strong winds helped to spread the fires and made it difficult for firefighters to douse them.

“It’s not just the brush and shrubs that are getting burned, but also trees, especially pines,” he said.

Sumatra Fires Create Breathing Problems
SP/Usmin & Radesman Saragih Jakarta Globe 1 Oct 12;

Almost 2,000 people in Bengkulu and Jambi are suffering from breathing problems after both provinces experienced a series of forest fires for more than a month, officials said over the weekend.

Bengkulu city health agency chief Mixon Syahbudin said the number of people suffering from respiratory ailments, known as ISPA, continues to rise because of a fire-induced smoky haze that has settled into the western part of Sumatra.

“If rain does not fall in Bengkulu in October, the number of people with ISPA in the area will rise,” Mixon said. “This is happening because the air quality in Bengkulu is getting worse and the haze is getting thicker.”

Mixon said his office has treated more than 400 people with respiratory problems. Sixty percent of those affected are children while the remainder are elderly people.

“We hope the rain will come soon so that the haze covering this area will diminish and the air quality will return to normal,” he said.

Meanwhile, in Jambi, the local health agency has recorded more than 1,400 people with ISPA in the capital alone since the start of September. At the provincial level, the figure has exceeded 3,000 people.

“The air pollution caused by the haze during the drought has caused many to suffer ISPA,” said Jambi city health agency chief Polisman Sitanggang. The people affected by ISPA are mostly children and the elderly.”

Polisman added that his office distributing 10,000 masks over the last few days as the forest fires continue to spread and haze thickens.

The Ministry of Forestry recently said that it counted 24,663 hot spots — areas of high temperature indicating forest or brush fires — this year, with Sumatra and Kalimantan having the most, because of drought and land clearing by fire.

The forest fires have also forced several airlines to cut down the number of flights to Jambi because of poor visibility.

“The flight schedule from Jambi to Jakarta, and Jakarta to Jambi has been reduced,” said Rudi Iriandi, marketing manager at the Jambi office of flag carrier Garuda Indonesia. “We have canceled all of our morning flights because Sultan Thaha Syaifuddin airport in Jambi cannot operate because of the haze.

“We have been canceling flights dozens of times over the last three weeks. The cancellations have cost the company a lot of money.”

Visibility early in the morning at the airport has been limited to 500 meters, preventing planes from landing. Planes have only been able to land and take off after 8:30 a.m., when the haze partially clears.

Separately, Samsul Bandri, chief of the Fatmawati Airport in Bengkulu, said the haze in the province had not forced any flight cancelations. He added that visibility in that area is still acceptable to most pilots. But Samsul warned that the haze is thickening and could force flights to be canceled if the fires continue.

Haze Forces Garuda Flight Suspensions, Disruptions in Several Airports
Jakarta Globe 29 Sep 12;

Jambi. Garuda Indonesia has suspended morning flights to and from Jambi as a blanket of smoke continued to shroud the Sumatran city.

Garuda has suspended its morning flights GA 130 from Jambi to Jakarta, and GA 131 from Jakarta to Jambi, according to Alzog, the operations manager of Sultan Thaha Syaifuddin airport in Jambi, who spoke to the media on Saturday.

Rudi Iriandi, sales and marketing officer at Garuda Indonesia's branch office in Jambi, said the morning flight suspension is to continue until October 7.

"Only two flights are postponed. Meanwhile, the flight schedules for GA 132, GA 133, GA 134, and GA 135 remain unchanged," he said.

A blanket of smoke has also disrupted flights in other areas in the country.

In Banjarmasin, capital of South Kalimantan province, six flights had to be postponed from the city's Syamsudin Noor airport on Saturday due to the smog, an official of state airport operator PT Angkasa Pura I said.

"You can't see more than five meters away, so it is not possible for an aircraft to take off," Haruman said.

The smog was believed to be coming from forest or bush fires in undeveloped lands following the long drought.

Further, Lion Air had to delay three flights, including those to Jakarta, Surabaya and Yogyakarta, and Garuda Indonesia, Sriwijaya Air and Batavia Air each had to postpone take offs to Jakarta.

"They have to wait for the haze to dissipate and the line of vision to clear to at least 400 meters before planning take offs," Haruman said.

"The clouds this morning are the worst ever crippling the airport operations," he said, adding we have had hazes before but never caused a delay in take off."

Antara