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View all search resultsKalimantan fires rage as response lags
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Motorists drive with headlights ong Aug. 20 along a haze-shrouded road in Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan, as smoke originating from widespread forest and land fires has significantly reduced visibility and degraded air quality across the province. Indonesia's government says over 100,000 hectares burned in the first half of the year. (AFP/Reina)
F
orest and land fires continue to spread across Kalimantan amid a prolonged dry season, with extensive land clearing through burning adding to the threat as the government’s weather modification efforts struggle to contain the intensifying blazes.
Hot spots have been detected in all five Indonesian provinces on the island of Borneo as of Friday. In Kutai Kartanegara, East Kalimantan, fires have been occurring with increasing frequency, according to a local forestry agency official who asked to be identified by his initials, AP.
“It is getting more frequent and intense and it is predicted to become even more severe. I believe we have not reached the peak of forest and land fires yet,” AP told The Jakarta Post on Friday.
AP said local authorities had stepped up monitoring and firefighting efforts, but their capacity remained limited as individuals and companies continued to deliberately burn land for clearing, including to make way for oil palm plantations. He stopped short at identifying those responsible.
Weather modification operations have helped bring rain to some areas, AP said, but the growing number of hot spots requires additional measures and funding to strengthen the response by local authorities and firefighters, including the procurement of more water pumps.
He acknowledged that budget cuts resulted from the central government’s austerity measures also reduced local administrations’ capacity to respond to the fires.
Read also: Wildfire smoke drives surge in respiratory infections
