Hundreds of hectares of forest are on fire and believed to be the result of the hot season and widespread open burning for agricultural purposes in Riau Province, Sumatra, Indonesia. The fire reportedly began as early as June.
The authorities are intensifying efforts to put out the fires, including using 11 helicopters for water bombing. The helicopter operations are being concentrated in Dumai, Rokan Hulu, Pelalawan and Siak.
Besides the fire in Sumatra, based on satellite monitoring on Thursday morning, there is a hot spot in Kotawaringin Timur, Central Kalimantan. The regency government has set their area in a state of the emergency alert status of forest and land fire during due to land fires increasing.
As quoted from Antara (Jul 19), Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency said that since early this year, more than 600 hectares of forests in Sumatra have been wiped out by fires. The combination of dry season and the spread of peatland is wide enough to make the level of vulnerability of land fire in the area is quite high.
Peat is very easy to dry and burn during drought, but it is difficult to extinguish because the fire continues to burn into the soil, even though the surface has been extinguished. The agency hopes that rains forecast for later this month will douse this latest round of forest fires.
Such fires are nothing new and are seen as an annual affair much to the consternation of neighbours like Malaysia and Singapore which have to put up with haze caused by them. Almost every year during the dry season haze descends on Riau.
In 2015, smog from forest fires in Indonesia prompted the cancellation of flights and warnings for people to stay indoors while pushing air quality to unhealthy levels in neighbouring Singapore and Malaysia.
In Singapore, east of Sumatra, haze shrouded the skyscrapers of the city-state's skyline and air pollution rose above the "unhealthy" level. Several areas in western Malaysia, including the capital Kuala Lumpur, recorded unhealthy air quality. Western Malaysia lies across the Malacca Strait from Sumatra.
Indonesian authorities have previously insisted they are stepping up haze-fighting efforts, through such actions as banning the granting of new land for palm oil plantations and establishing an agency to restore devastated peatlands.
Sources: nst.com.my, thesundaily.my, tirto.id, forbes.com, phys.org