JAKARTA, Indonesia — Indonesia on Monday intensified ground and aerial firefighting operations as huge blazes in central and western parts of the country scorched thousands of hectares of forests and peatland, created a choking haze that blanketed cities and crossed borders.
Indonesian authorities have been battling fires driven by an intensifying El Nino pattern and a prolonged dry season, generating dense smoke that crossed into Malaysia and Brunei, according to Indonesia’s National Disaster Management Agency, or BNPB.
The BNPB said Monday that fires remain active in several regions, while large-scale suppression efforts continue in fire-prone provinces including West, Central and South Kalimantan on Borneo island and in Riau, South Sumatra and Jambi on Sumatra island. The fires are part of a broader surge in wildfire activity across Indonesia this year.
Drought, strong winds and dry vegetation have complicated efforts to contain the fires, BNPB said in a statement on Monday. Some hot spots remained inaccessible to more than 24,000 ground firefighters who were deployed on Sumatra and Borneo, prompting local officials to request additional water-bombing support.
Prabowo visits fire-affected areas
After visiting areas devastated by forest and peatland fires in Central Kalimantan on Saturday, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto on Monday flew to fire-affected Riau and its neighboring province of South Sumatra, where more than 36,000 hectares (89,000 acres) have burned in 10 provinces, to encourage authorities to get the haze cloud under control.
Prabowo vowed the government would continue supporting firefighting operations, including through the deployment of additional water-bombing helicopters and oxygen supplies for firefighters. He urged authorities to “thoroughly document and report the work being carried out by firefighting teams” directly to him.
Prabowo also called for stronger public education and outreach efforts, saying the central government will deploy about 1,000 military and police officers to work alongside regional authorities in raising awareness and preventing forest and land fires.
The Environment Ministry satellite data on Monday showed South Sumatra recorded the highest number of hot spots nationwide with 1,429, followed by West Kalimantan with 1,226 and Central Kalimantan with 811. East Kalimantan logged 576 hot spots, ahead of Riau with 503, while West Papua and Jambi recorded 468 and 458 hot spots, respectively.
Forestry Ministry data indicated that nearly 94,000 hectares (232,000 acres) burned in July alone nationwide.
The Transportation Ministry said it has authorized the use of 35 foreign-registered aircraft to support wildfire response operations, including water-bombing missions and aerial patrols. The ministry said the aircraft can be rapidly redeployed to disaster-hit areas as conditions change, while complying with Indonesian aviation safety regulations.
Indonesia and Malaysia boost cloud seeding against wildfires
Indonesia is actively intensifying weather-modification operations to help firefighters combat wildfire by inducing rainfall through the dispersal of salt particles into suitable clouds, with 30 aircraft for water-bombing and cloud-seeding over Kalimantan and another 22 helicopters covering Sumatra.
Malaysian authorities said Monday that Indonesia has granted permission for its aircraft to enter Indonesian airspace to conduct cloud-seeding operations along their shared border as the two neighbors step up efforts to tackle the worsening haze.
Malaysia’s Environment Minister Arthur Joseph Kurup said the country was preparing an operational plan and could also offer Indonesia help fighting fires if requested. He said the measures were critical to ensure air quality improves as Malaysia prepares to celebrate National Day on Aug. 31, to mark the 69th independence day from British rule.
The country also celebrates Malaysia Day on Sept. 16, to mark the unification of the entire nation, and this year the commemorations will be held in its eastern state of Sarawak on Borneo island, one of the areas most affected by the haze, he said.
Nearly 600 schools in Sarawak were closed last week as air quality deteriorated and affecting about 200,000 students, while officials expect hot, dry conditions to persist into October. On Monday, data from Malaysia’s Environment Department showed 20 areas with unhealthy air quality in parts of peninsula Malaysia and Sarawak.
Fires are a regular problem during dry season in Indonesia, a vast archipelago nation of more than 17,000 islands, and often strain relations with neighbors.
Plantation owners and traditional farmers often start fires to clear land for farming. It triggers hazardous haze that reduces visibility, disrupts land and air transportation and threatens public health, sometimes affecting neighboring countries in Southeast Asia.
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Ng reported from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
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