Peak of Forest Fires Being Watched Out

KOMPAS/AGUS SUSANTO

Officers of the Riau Manggala Agni Forest Fire Task Force hose down a peatland area on Wednesday (25/9/2019) to prevent the resurgence of fires in Rimbo Panjang village of Tambang district, Kampar regency, Riau. The task force deployed as many as 6,000 firefighters over 62 days to combat the peatland and forest fires in the region. Extinguishing a fire covering 3- to 20-square-meters of peatland takes at least one hour. Riau Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) head Edwar Sanger said that the fires had burned through 4,740 hectares since January 2019.

JAKARTA, KOMPAS — The annual rainy season in most regions is expected to be delayed. The areas prone to forest fires in Kalimantan and Sumatra will only enter the rainy season in the middle and end of October. In fact, in South Sumatra and Java, it is likely that the rainy season will begin in November.

When compared to the usual “schedule” for 30 years (1981-2010), based on the analysis of the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), the beginning of the rainy season in 74 percent of Indonesian territory or 253 season zones (ZOM) is predicted to get delayed. Only 18.7 percent or 64 ZOM are predicted to be at the same time as the usual schedule. A total of 25 ZOMs (7.3 percent) are predicted to come sooner than the usual time.

In Indonesia, there are 342 ZOM. A total of 69 ZOM (20.2 percent) will enter the rainy season in October 2019. A total of 161 ZOM (47.1 percent) in November and 79 ZOM (23.1 percent) in December. The rest is from January to March 2020.

"For Riau and Jambi regions it is estimated that the rainy season will begin in the middle to the end of October. While part of Central Kalimantan, West Kalimantan and part of East Kalimantan will be at the end of October," said head of BMKG Climate and Air Quality Information Subdivision in Jakarta, Thursday (26/9/2019).

KOMPAS/AGUS SUSANTO

A lone firefighter of the Riau Manggala Agni Forest Fire Task Force hoses down an area of scorched land on Wednesday (25/9/2019) to prevent the resurgence of fires in Rimbo Panjang village of Tambang district, Kampar regency, Riau. The task force has deployed as many as 6,000 firefighters over 62 days to combat the peatland and forest fires in the region. The fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan have razed 326,728 hectares – five times the area of Jakarta – since January.

Artificial rain

Based on this BMKG data and also forest fire trends in previous years, National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) head Doni Monardo said, the BNPB had also cautioned the peak of forest and land fires in September to October. One effort is to continue to carry out weather modification or artificial rain operations to extinguish fires and prevent new hot spots.

Rain in some areas on Sept. 22-24, said Doni, triggered by artificial rain, had succeeded in reducing forest and land fires. On Sept. 21 the hot spots reached 3,302 points and on Sept. 24 it dropped to 1,036 points. However, on Sept. 25, it again rose to 2,790 hot spots.

As of yesterday, artificial rain continued, including in the Ketapang and Melawi regions, West Kalimantan, and also in Central Kalimantan. Rain in the last few days has put off some hot spots in most of West Kalimantan. Yesterday, in West Kalimantan there were still 228 hot spots, of which 226 were in Ketapang regency.

West Kalimantan Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) head Lumano said the rain had not been evenly distributed in Ketapang. "I hope the rain can immediately reduce the hot spots in Ketapang," he said in Pontianak.

The lack of awareness of the people who throw out cigarettes carelessly during the dry season also triggers land fires.

Rain also makes the air quality in the area affected by smog improve. In Pontianak City, for example, yesterday at 9 a.m. the air quality index was at medium level. Starting at 2 p.m. the air quality touched a healthy level with a PM10 value of 16.72 micrograms per cubic meter. Rain during the day that lasted for about 15 minutes can drive away the haze of smoke.

Although artificial rain is effective in putting out forest and land fires, said Doni, all parties must work together to overcome this problem. Local administrations are responsible for preventing forest and land fires, especially on peatland.

"The governor and regent must start thinking about building a canal block so that the hot spots do not expand. Peatland water should be kept. If it\'s too late and the dry season arrives, there will be no more fire prevention. This is the time for us to start working on building canal blocks," he said.

In Lampung, yesterday, the Lampung Regional Police together with a number of related agencies held a coordination meeting on forest and land fire prevention. Until now, 349 hot spots were recorded in Lampung.

The forest and land fires, among others, were triggered by rampant slash-and-burn activities during harvests by a number of companies. Based on data from the Lampung Regional Police, the largest fire reportedly occurred on a plantation owned by four companies. The lack of awareness of the people who throw out cigarettes carelessly during the dry season also triggers land fires.

(AIK/ESA/VIO/ISW)