Firefighters have mostly contained a wildfire that has scorched a large area of a national park on the main island of Java, though crews are battling several remaining hot spots in the popular tourist destination, authorities said.
The fire, which began last week, impacted nearly 900ha across the Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park as of Tuesday, after large areas of dry grassland, vegetation and protected edelweiss flowers burned in 36 hot spots, said Rudijanta Tjahja Nugraha, head of the park located in East Java province.
As of Tuesday, active hot spots remain in two locations within the park: Puncak 30, a popular viewpoint for tourists visiting the volcanic landscape of Mount Bromo, and Dengklek, an area where the volcano monitoring post is located, said Suharyanto, the head of National Disaster Management Agency, or BNPB.
“We expect the two remaining hotspots to be extinguished by Friday,” said Suharyanto during a visit to Mount Bromo on Tuesday.
“That would allow us to redeploy two of the three water-bombing helicopters to help fight forest fires that are also burning in other areas.”
In the West Kalimantan provincial capital Pontianak, the city’s Education and Cultural Office on Monday ordered schools to suspend in-person classes after air quality deteriorated to unhealthy levels and health officials reported a rise in respiratory illnesses.
The government has intensified firefighting efforts across Sumatra and Borneo islands, deploying more than 35 aircraft including water-bombing helicopters and patrol airplanes.
Forest and peat fires in Indonesia have strained relations with neighbouring countries.
Satellite imagery has shown a haze of wildfire smoke drifting from West Kalimantan into Malaysia on several days this month, according to BNPB.
Haze has also worsened in nearby Sarawak, which shares a border with Indonesia’s Kalimantan province on Borneo.
The air pollutant index of Malaysia’s Department of the Environment showed the number of areas recording unhealthy air quality levels in Sarawak rising to 11 early Tuesday.
The Sarawak government told schools in those areas to halt outdoor activities. — AP
