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)