Unlikely heroes are fighting the fires

By Yenni Kwok

BALIKPAPAN (JP): Armed with a long knife, an old man fought the fire by his home alone.

Enduring the choking smoke and heat of the flickering fires, he chopped down plants to make fire breaks. He was determined to prevent them from spreading and reaching his house.

He did not know how the fire started. "It came from there," he said, pointing east. He only knew that he had to save his home, around 50 km from Balikpapan, East Kalimantan.

But it was just one of the numerous rampaging fires that have ravaged forests and areas in Sumatra and Kalimantan.

Forest fires are not a new phenomenon for Indonesia. They devastated 161,000 hectares of land last year; about 3,000 hectares were scorched in 1994 and 1995. The worst forest fires occurred in 1982, when three million hectares were destroyed.

Figures for this year differ from one agency to another. More than 83,000 hectares of Sumatran and Kalimantan forests have been destroyed, according to the Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Azwar Anas.

But State Minister of Environment Sarwono Kusumaatmadja estimated that 300,000 hectares have burned.

Many experts cite both natural and human causes for the catastrophe.

One natural factor may be El Nino, which sets off abnormalities in air currents and ocean temperatures in the Pacific.

In a bad year, El Nino brings fewer Atlantic hurricanes, drought in Southeast Asia and Australia, as well as other disruptions of normal weather patterns.

"The past years when many forest fires occurred were also the years of El Nino," said Nabiel Makarim, the Deputy Head for Minister of Environment's Pollution Control. "But human factors also contribute. People open up fields by burning the land."

Despite its almost annual occurrence, the country seemed unprepared for the developing disaster.

"Around April or May, Sarwono gave a warning," Nabiel said. "He said: 'Watch out, watch out for El Nino.'"

Forest fires began in June but nationwide attention was still slow in coming.

"We were late because we did not think it would be this big," Nabiel added. "We needed time to wake up people."

In battling the forest fires and attendant haze that has drifted to neighboring countries and led to diplomatic embarrassment, primary hopes are placed on the unlikely figures of junior government staff and young volunteers.

With three desktop computers and two fax machines, a dozen people are assigned to a 24-hour shift at the forest fire co- ordination center in Jakarta, set up by Minister Sarwono in mid- August.

They are mostly staff from the Environmental Impact Management Agency, and volunteers who have mastered the Geographical Information System or are computer skilled.

Sarwono's son is also said to be a volunteer at the center.

Headed by Nabiel himself, the National Coordination Team for Land and Forest Fire Control is responsible for compiling different information -- including land visibility and hot spot locations from satellites -- and dispatching it to government agencies and provincial governments.

The coordination center also relies on information from public, media, the National Aviation Institute, the Geophysics and Meteorological Agency, Technology Research and Implementation Agency, Singapore and Malaysia.

As a senior member of the Environmental Impact Management Agency, Rusdian Lubis had to supervise his junior staff for a 24- hour shift last Friday night.

"Most of the people here are young," the middle-aged Rusdian said looking at his staff. "They have high dedication."

They also need to have the stamina to work round-the-clock.

Red-eyed Rusdian and his fellow workers had to spend their Friday night bent over their computers waiting for the latest satellite image of the hot spots.

They translated the coordinates into specific locations and gave the information to local governments to take action.

While international help is just starting to pour in, few are aware that foreign expertise in fighting forest fires is already here.

Integrated Forest Fire Management Project (IFFM) is a collaborative pilot project between the German government and Indonesia's Ministry of Forestry in handling forest fires.

The Samarinda-based project is equipped with sophisticated fire-suppression tools and a satellite image receiver for hot spot locations.

"Just receiving hot spots won't put out fires," said Ludwig Schindler, IFFM team leader. "There is a lack of trained people (in forest fires) here. This is the area where we want to help."

In the past three years, IFFM has trained 400 forest rangers and locals in ways to prevent and suppress forest fires.

This expertise was evident when a smoldering log was about to burn an area of Bukit Soeharto, around 50 km east of Balikpapan.

The forest rangers quickly extinguished the fire in less than half an hour.

Schindler was with The Jakarta Post on the road to Balikpapan as brush fires burned on the sides. Asked whether IFFM could have helped villagers put out these fires, Schindler said they had in the past and would continue to do so when aware of the incidents.

"The most common problem is communication. The villagers do not have phones to report fires," he said.

IFFM has not received any requests from top-level government agencies to help in fighting forest fires.

But they are ready to pitch if that call does come. "We would definitely give our help if we are asked," Schindler promised.