70 hectares of forest burned

70 hectares of forest burned

BALIKPAPAN, East Kalimantan: The recent outbreak of brush and
forest fires in the Bukit Soeharto forest reserve has ravaged 70
hectares of land, deputy governor Suwarna Abdul Fatah said here
yesterday.

Suwarna, who coordinated the provincial natural disaster
management board, said the land ravaged by the recent drought-
induced fires included rubber plantations, dry savanna, and brush
forest along the Samarinda-Balikpapan road which passes over
Bukit Soeharto.

Bukit Soeharto is a 61,000 hectare forest reserve located in
Semboja village, Kutai.

Suwarna said that four hectares of a 15-hectare forest reserve
in Karang Joang village, 20 kilometers north of here, near the
Manggar and Wei rivers had also caught alight.

Suwarna said the board had declared the province on "full
alert" due to the imminent threat of forest fires. (42)