Indonesia: Haze blankets Riau amid heightened forest and land fires

Rizal Harahap The Jakarta Post 16 Aug 18;

Haze has covered several areas in Riau province following a growing number of hot spots detected from heightened forest and peatland fires and has started to choke residents.

White smog has blanketed provincial capital Pekanbaru in the past few days, prompting residents to put on surgical masks to protect themselves from the toxic material.

“At first I thought it was morning dew, but apparently the environment was dimmed from the haze,” Pekanbaru resident Musfarin said on Thursday.

Similar conditions also occurred in Dumai city, where visibility dropped to 4 kilometers in the morning on the back of the thick haze. The haze thins at noon with the help of the wind.

Besides coming from local forest and land fires in the city, the haze in Dumai also came from the neighboring area of Rokan Hilir regency, which suffers the worst fires in the province.

The forest and land fires in Rokan Hilir not only burned down hundreds of hectares of oil palm plantation and peatland areas but also 20 houses, a hut, a car and two motorcycles in Tanjung Leban village in Kubu district. The fire forced residents to evacuate to their relatives’ houses.

“We have informed land owners not to clear their land for plantation during the dry season, but apparently they ignored it. We did not have the proper equipment to put out the fires and it was hard to find a water source so the fire spread quickly,” Tanjung Leban village secretary Wandri said.

He said currently thousands of residents needed surgical masks for the choking haze.

“Four villages near us are covered with smog from the land fires. All the villagers now breathe in haze. The government must take action to help the people,” Wandri added.

Riau forest and land fires task force deputy head, who is also the head of Riau Disaster Mitigation Agency , Edwar Sanger, said the team had monitored and conducted fire extinguishing efforts in Rokan Hilir both from land and air.

“But dry land in the dry season triggered the fire's spreading. The strong wind has also complicated wildfire suppression efforts,” he said.

Edwar urged residents to pray for the rain to help with the current situation.

Terra and Aqua satellites have recorded 121 hot spots detected in Riau on Thursday morning according to data compiled by the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG). The number jumped from 22 hot spots detected by the satellites on Wednesday afternoon. (rin)


More than 1,000 hot spots detected in West Kalimantan
Severianus Endi The Jakarta Post 16 Aug 18;

The National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) plans to add two more helicopters to be used for water bombing as more than 1,000 hot spots have been detected in the forest area in West Kalimantan emitting haze, which is affecting activities of the residents.

Satellite images recorded 1,061 hot spots divided into 592 medium fires and 469 large fires, spread in a number of locations on Thursday, BNPB spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said.

He said the agency had deployed four helicopters to support the forest and land fire mitigation efforts in the province for water bombings and patrol.

“We plan to add two more helicopters. We must extinguish the fire as the haze is starting to disrupt people’s activities,” he said in a press statement on Thursday.

Based on Aqua and Terra satellite monitoring, West Kalimantan recorded the most hot spots in the archipelago. There are a total of 1,490 hot spots across the country amid the height of the dry season, according to BNPB data. (rin)


Forest fires decline significantly - President
Antara 16 Aug 18;

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - President Joko Widodo has said land and forest fires have declined significantly this year compared with previous years due to the country`s strong stance in protecting its forests.

"This assertiveness would not have achieved these ideal results without public support and participation," the president stressed in his presidential speech on the occasion of the 73rd anniversary of Indonesia`s independence at the parliament building here on Thursday.

The head of state expressed his gratitude to the Indonesian military and police, local administrations and the public for their dedication in preventing forest fires.

"We need courage to make the leap. We have to be firm in making the best decision for the people of Indonesia, including being firm in protecting our land and forests," he stated.

Present at the annual session were Vice President Jusuf Kalla, cabinet ministers, foreign representatives, former presidents BJ Habibie and Megawati Sukarnoputri, and former vice presidents Try Sutrisno and Boediono.

Reporting by Dewanto Samodro
Editing by Sri Haryati

Editor: Bustanuddin