Firefighters on Friday (18/8) tried to put out a peatland fire in Sumatra that was getting bigger near a densely populated area.
This effort was complicated by the limited fire extinguishers and water sources which were far away – about an hour from the location of the fire in the Pulau Negara Village area, South Sumatra.
Local residents aided the efforts of the officers as the fire spread near their homes. The number of houses at risk of burning is not yet known.
The fire started as a bush and tree fire that broke out on Wednesday, but then spread to near the highway that connects the district capital of Ogan Ilir to Palembang.
“The local joint task force is trying to prevent the fire from spreading to the toll road so that it can cause thick smoke,” said Haniman, an official from the Fire Department.
Forest and land fires in Indonesia are an annual problem that often strains relations between Indonesia and neighboring countries.
Smoke from forest fires often covers parts of Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and the southern part of Thailand.
Incidents of fires that occurred during the dry season in Indonesia became a major disaster in 2015, because they burned 2.6 million hectares of land.
The World Bank estimates the fires cost Indonesia $16 billion, while a Harvard University and Columbia University study estimates the haze accelerated 100,000 deaths in the region. (ab/uh)
