Forest fire fighting shows results
Forest fire fighting shows results
JAKARTA (JP): The concerted effort between the government, the
Armed Forces, locals and Malaysian firefighters has begun to show
results as the fires raging on some 2,000 hectares of forest in
Sumatra were successfully put out yesterday.
Quoting a statement from the local Environmental Impact
Management Agency, Antara said that a fire-fighting task force
comprising 53 Malaysian firefighters, 100 soldiers and some 200
local people joined forces to put out the fires in Indragiri Hulu
regency, Riau.
The agency also said there were no other hot spots found in
Riau, although some 440 hectares of peat land in Jambi's Tanjung
Jabung, Bungo Tebo and Sorolangun regencies were still considered
vulnerable to fresh fires.
The fires, which have also hit national parks, are threatening
one of the world's most diverse collections of wildlife.
In Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, hundreds of local people in
Sembalun Bumbung village also managed to extinguish fires that
ravaged some 70 hectares of Mt. Rinjani national park.
Local government spokesman Tjok Suthendra Rai said the fires
at the national park did not reach an alarming level because they
only hit about 70 hectares of dry brush around conservation
areas.
The East Kalimantan administration revealed yesterday that
financial losses caused by the fires on 25,000 hectares of land
and forest in the province had reached more than Rp 62 billion
(US$21 million).
Deputy governor Suwarna Abdul Fatah said: "Most of the fire-
stricken areas in the province are now under control." Satellite
imaging showed that only a few hot spots were left.
The fires in Kalimantan and Sumatra have caused a blanket of
poisonous haze that has affected aviation and millions of people
across a vast area in Southeast Asia.
Thick smoke has also appeared in several areas in the
mountains of Sumbing, Lawu and Gedongsongo on the island of Java,
Antara reported.
The government announced yesterday the arrest of 20 farmers
for slash-and-burn methods to clear land in East Kalimantan. They
face lengthy prison terms if convicted.
The clearing of land by timber companies by burning forests,
combined with a drought that has been considered the worst ever
in the past half a century, has been blamed for the fires.
The Ministry of Forestry announced yesterday that 158 of 176
companies accused of burning forests might lose their licenses
for failing to meet the government's deadline to prove their
innocence.
By Tuesday, 63 companies had submitted reports about their
land-clearing activities to the government, but only 17 of them
had included the required data.
There are 112 other companies which have not responded to the
government's threat.
President Soeharto has apologized to neighboring countries
affected by the haze, which the government has declared a
national disaster. Malaysia, Thailand, the U.S., Japan and
Australia have either offered or given assistance to help fight
the forest fires that have caused the haze. (aan/08)