Fire razes pine forest in Gowa regency

Andi Hajramurni, The Jakarta Post, Malino

A fire, which activists believe was deliberately set, continued to burn a path of destruction through a protected pine forest on Monday near the resort town of Malino in Gowa, South Sulawesi.

Authorities told local residents to stay on alert lest the blaze threaten nearby residential areas.

South Sulawesi natural resources conservation agency head Edi Purwanto said on Monday the fire had engulfed more than 20 hectares of the protected forest in the Tinggimoncong district, about 70 kilometers south of Makassar, since it broke out on Friday night.

Fires were first detected on Friday at 8 p.m. and grew quickly, fanned by high winds.

"When we saw the location, the fires had spread as wind was blowing strongly as it does in the dry season," Malino environment agency head Yahya Nasir said on Sunday.

Yahya suspected the fire started from a cigarette butt thrown away on a road leading to the resort town of Malino.

However, local environmental activists said they believed the fire was deliberately set to open plantation or resort areas in the gutted forest.

Yahya warned the fire could spread to nearby cocoa, vanilla and clove plantations and settlement areas in Parigi village and Gantarang. Fire fighters there would be powerless to stop its progress as they used only traditional equipment and approaches, he said.

"Apart from that, about 700 meters away from the fire there is a gas station," Yahya said.

He advised local residents to take refuge if the fire encroached on their areas.

Officials fear the forest's destruction could cause flooding in nearby areas in the rainy season and water shortages during the dry season.

The 3,500-hectare forest is in a significant catchment area that supplies water through the Bili-Bili dam for at least seven regencies and cities across South Sulawesi -- Gowa, Makassar, Maros, Takalar, Jeneponto, Bantaeng and Sinjai.

About 1,000 hectares of the forest had already been decimated by loggers or had been converted into housing and recreational areas.

Located on the slopes of Mount Bawakaraeng, the forest was the legacy of the Dutch colonial administration and was made a natural tourist are because of its cool climate and scenic waterfall.