Forest fires in East Kalimantan spread to coal deposits<\/p>\n
Rusman, The Jakarta Post\/Samarinda<\/p>\n
East Kalimantan forestry office firefighters are on high alert as
\nforest and cropland fires spread to coal deposits. As the
\nsituation becomes worse by the day, the provincial administration
\nhas increased fire watch patrols and field monitoring, and moved
\nin more fire-fighting equipment to fire-prone locations.<\/p>\n
\"Starting this week, our teams have been observing the
\nsituation around the clock and carrying out fire fighting
\nactivities at every hotspot,\" said the head of the Forest Fire
\nManagement Unit at the East Kalimantan Forestry Office, Kusnadi
\nKatam.<\/p>\n
\"Weather conditions in East Kalimantan are hot and windy right
\nnow. If this kind of weather persists, the forest fires could
\nintensify into as big a disaster as in 2001,\" he told The Jakarta
\nPost.<\/p>\n
He added that the danger of the fires spreading rapidly was
\nexacerbated when the fires met with coal deposits, as had
\noccurred recently in the Bukit Soeharto Community Forest located
\nalong the main highway between Balikpapan and Samarinda, as well
\nas in Malinau regency.<\/p>\n
Forest fires have also broken out in conservation areas in
\nthe Kutai National Park in East Kutai and the Talisayan protected
\nforest in Berau regency.<\/p>\n
\"Most of the forest fires have occurred along the main
\nhighways between the regencies,\" Kusnadi said. The area destroyed
\nby fire thus far this season is estimated at 32 hectares.<\/p>\n
Kusnadi said that there had been no reports of fires being
\ndeliberately set in forest concessions. Rather, they were caused
\nby people engaging in land clearance. The fires had spread
\nrapidly in areas with coal deposits.<\/p>\n
Based on 12 satellite photographs taken by the National
\nOceanic Atmosphere Administration (NOAA) on Aug. 23, 11 hotspots
\nwere detected in four regencies in East Kalimantan; one in Berau,
\nfour in Kutai Kertanegara, five in East Kutai and 1 in Pasir.<\/p>\n
The highest number of hotspots in August was recorded on Aug.
\n19, with 103 hotspots. No hotspots were found on Aug. 20. Twelve
\nhotspots were detected on Aug. 21 and 62 hotspots on Aug. 22.<\/p>\n
The satellite also located a number of hotspots in Kalimantan.
\nOn Aug. 21, 115 hotspots were found in West Kalimantan province,
\n35 in South Kalimantan province and 141 in Central Kalimantan
\nprovince. Meanwhile on Aug. 22, 35 hotspots were detected in
\nCentral Kalimantan and 15 in South Kalimantan. None were detected
\nin West Kalimantan.<\/p>\n
According to Kusnadi, the big variation in the number of
\nhotspots detected from day to day was due to a lack of maximum
\nsatellite coverage. For that reason, his office had requested
\nregental and municipal administrations to monitor and report on
\nthe situation on the ground.<\/p>\n
So far, the haze from the forest fires has covered Samarinda,
\nBalikpapan, Kutai Kertanegara and East Kutai, but the East
\nKalimantan provincial administration has yet to pronounce the
\nsituation hazardous, and has not warned the public to use masks.
\n\"The haze has yet to affect visibility or human health. The
\nsituation is within the normal range,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The haze has also not affected flights to and from Temindung
\nAirport in Samarinda. An official from the local air traffic
\ncontrol, Ucok, said that pilots had been informed about the haze
\ncovering the province, but that flights had not been affected
\nthus far. Flight visibility was 8 kilometers as of Tuesday.<\/p>\n
\"Flights could be disrupted if visibility was to be reduced to
\nbetween 1 and 5 kilometers. It also depends on each pilot.
\nConditions are still normal at the moment,\" said Ucok.<\/p>",
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