Worsening forest fires cause haze to spread

The Jakarta Post, 16 August 2006:

Worsening forest fires cause haze to spread

Tb. Arie Rukmantara, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Forest fires on Sumatra and Borneo are sending a toxic haze across

the skies of Southeast Asia, raising air pollution levels on the two

islands and in neighboring Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei.

Malaysia's Meteorological Services Department on Tuesday said a smoky

haze was blanketing skies in the central Selangor state and the

eastern state of Sarawak on Malaysia's part of Borneo island, causing

air pollutant indexes at five stations to record unhealthy air

quality levels.

The indexes, which measure harmful particles in the air, recorded

moderate air quality levels in 38 other areas.

In Singapore, the pollutant standards index (PSI) dropped

from "healthy" to "moderate" with a reading of 52. A reading of more

than 100 is considered dangerous to the health, while 50 or below is

good.

The haze from the fires also has affected Brunei, which experienced

higher than normal air pollution levels Monday and reduced visibility

levels of 5,000 meters.

Malaysia's Sarawak Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr George Chan

warned the haze in the state was expected to worsen.

He said the Meteorological Services Department had forecast "less

than normal" rainfall in Borneo until the end of the year, which

would give rise to more brushfires and more haze.

The Jakarta-based ASEAN Secretariat said satellite images showed

there were more than 350 "hot spots" detected in Riau, North Sumatra,

South Sumatra, Bengkulu and Jambi, producing a haze that traveled

throughout the region. It also showed more than 170 hot spots in

Borneo, but did not state whether these fires were sending smoke

across the region.

"Most of the fires have occurred in abandoned plantation areas and

peat lands," according to a report issued by the secretariat Tuesday.

Triwibowo, the director for forest fire control at Indonesia's

Forestry Ministry, confirmed the secretariat's report that most of

the fires were on privately owned land. He said this was one reason

it was so difficult for the government to extinguish the blazes.

"We deployed dozens of officers to put out the fires 10 days ago but

they have been unable to deal with them," he told The Jakarta Post.

Triwibowo said his office was formulating new strategies for fighting

the fires, including deploying helicopters and planes to drop water

on the blazes.

"But that would still be difficult because the fires are scattered

around thousands of hectares of land. I guess now is the time to pray

for heavy rain."