Water bombing: A novel mission to save Kutai National Park

By Anton Sudarisman

SANGATTA, East Kalimantan (JP): While the rains bring floods to some cities across the country, devastating fires are raging in Kutai National Park, East Kalimantan.

So far, the fires have destroyed more than 45,000 hectares of primary forests -- a quarter of the whole national park -- leaving thousands of animals, many of them endangered, including the fabulous orangutan and hornbills, homeless, said Warsito, head of the park.

"Many animals are trapped in small areas with no food supplies. In a few weeks, many of them will die from starvation," said Baharuddin, one of 72 forest rangers currently working in the 200,000-hectare park.

It has been very difficult to control the fires, particularly because of the sporadic nature of fire spots.

"We have been working 24 hours a day with hundreds of potential localities to watch," said Suroso, another forest ranger. "Most of them are in the southern and eastern parts of park."

Besides the park team, there other parties working hard fighting the fires. In Balikpapan, several groups of volunteers made up of civilians and military personnel have put great efforts into controlling the spread of fires.

A team was set up by the then secretary of development operations, Lt. Gen. A.M. Hendro Priyono, who is now minister of transmigration, to help put out the fires using water bombing.

This team consisted of three pilots, two mechanics, and several other crew members who prepared a water-chemical mixture for the bombing missions. A single-engined combat aircraft, the Pilatus-Porter, was used.

The team began the bombing on Sunday, March 15, using Tanjung Bara Airport as its base. PT Kaltim Prima Coal, owner of the airport, provided necessary facilities, such as the fuel and the crew's accommodation.

The aim of the water bombing was to extinguish fires and prevent them from spreading.

"We have to complete eight bombing missions each day, targeting fires across Kutai National Park," explained Lt. Col. Andri Iskandri, who led the bombing mission.

In each mission, one ton of water mixed with AF-31, a special chemical produced by Hartindo, was dropped on each fire spot.

"We have to fly as low as three to five meters above the trees," said Andri.

Disappointing

On each drop, the chemical-water mix could effectively cover an area 100 meters long and eight meters wide. While also extinguishing the fires, the mixture formed a fire-resistant layer on trees as well as the ground, which then functioned as a firebreak.

"We need to make such firebreaks when we find the fire is too big for direct bombing so that we can stop the fire's progress," added Lt. Rumpoko, one of the three pilots.

As in other combat missions, the bombing itself was tough and required a high degree of accuracy. To make the bombing effective, before each flight the team gathered data from previous surveys to locate potential fire spots, which unfortunately changed from time to time.

"It's disappointing to see the fires flaring up in several different areas at the same time. When we have dozens of potential targets, we usually take the biggest ones," said Lt. Gloria, another pilot, who had been on a similar mission in Lampung in southern Sumatra, last year.

Another challenge for the team was the thick haze hanging over East Kalimantan. In some parts of the park, haze hindered flight visibility sometimes down to only a few meters, forcing the team to cancel several bombing missions.

Up to the last day of the bombing missions on Monday, March 23, the bombing seemed to have been a big success. The team completed 63 sorties, consuming more than 15 tons of AF-31. They succeeded in extinguishing the fires at several targets and also successfully prevented some big fires from spreading further.

"Pak Warsito from Kutai National Park confirmed these successful missions. He personally observed where fires stop burning and spreading," Andri said proudly.

But he realized that more time and greater efforts were need because more fires had started to blaze.

"I have heard more fires have started flaring. We need at least another three weeks to clear some critical areas of fire," he said.

But he was called for his next duty. The crew left East Kalimantan for another mission in Riau, Sumatra on Wednesday, March 25.

Andri is right. Despite his team's tireless efforts, new fires are still being igniting across the park. The latest information said that a big fire has started damaging some areas in Mentoko, an orangutan research center run by Suzuki Akira of the University of Tokyo. Hundreds of orangutans being researched are now in danger, waiting for rescue efforts.

Another report mentioned that flames have crossed the road between Bontang and Sangatta, moving deeper into the park.

The whole world is watching as thousands of hectares of our reserved forests vanish in flames, with the screams of endangered animals being trapped and kill. Ending the plight requires more effort from the government, companies operating in East Kalimantan and people like Lt. Col. Andri, Lt. Rumpoko and Lt. Gloria.

The writer is an employee of PT Kaltim Prima Coal, who recently joined the water-bombing mission.