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.