Fire razes pine forest in Gowa regency
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.