JAKARTA: Efforts to fight forest and land fires in Central Kalimantan are “not as easy as we might imagine”, regional military commander Major-General Zainul Arifin said on Monday (Oct 12), citing swampy terrain, poor visibility and the presence of wild animals.
His remarks were made during a meeting chaired by President Prabowo Subianto, according to a transcript published on the Indonesian presidential website.
Zainul and Indonesia’s National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) chief Suharyanto, who goes by one name, outlined the challenges facing efforts to tackle fires nationwide.
Prabowo called for particular attention to Tanjung Puting in Central Kalimantan, now the worst affected of the six priority provinces after a new fire was detected in Tanjung Puting National Park, according to Suharyanto.
The six priority provinces identified by the Indonesian government are Central Kalimantan, South Sumatra, South Kalimantan, Jambi, West Kalimantan and Riau.
“Tanjung Puting National Park requires particular attention because it is a national park,” Prabowo said.
More than 500 hectares of the national park have been affected by the fire, while firefighting efforts have been hampered by “extremely poor visibility”, which had dropped to about 500m.
The authorities said water-bombing helicopters in Central Kalimantan had been unable to fly for more than a week while weather modification operations and commercial flights had also been affected.