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)