BANJAR: More than 100 psychiatric patients in South Kalimantan have been evacuated as wildfire smoke blanketed the province, reducing visibility, causing traffic accidents and disrupting flights.
Some 167 patients at Sambang Lihum Psychiatric Hospital in Banjar regency were moved to another wing on Tuesday after a wildfire spread closer to the facility, sending thick smoke across the hospital grounds, said Yuddy Riswandhy Noora, the hospital's director.
The hospital occupies a 20-hectare site, of which about six ha are used for hospital facilities and the remainder is forested.
"Almost all of the 14 hectares of forest on the hospital grounds have been affected by wildfires in recent months, with about two ha burned on Tuesday," Yuddy said, as quoted by Kompas.com.
Yuddy said the hospital was also preparing to move patients to an off-site facility if smoke from the wildfires around the hospital could not be brought under control.
"Medical operations are continuing, but patients have made numerous complaints over the smoke," he said.
The hospital has distributed masks to patients, but the masks have not been enough to shield them from the smoke, he said.
He said the local Social Affairs Agency had prepared a facility at a social rehabilitation centre that could accommodate about 150 patients if the haze continues to worsen.
South Kalimantan Governor Muhidin said firefighters were continuing to battle wildfires around Sambang Lihum Psychiatric Hospital, while authorities will clear vegetation around the facility to remove potential fuel for remaining embers.
Muhidin said the measures were needed after hot spots re-emerged in several locations despite earlier firefighting efforts.
"Starting Wednesday, an incident command post will be set up around the hospital. The government will also clear the land around the hospital to reduce the risk of further fire," Muhidin said on Tuesday, according to state broadcaster RRI.
Read also: Indonesia doing 'everything' but struggling to curb fires
Beyond forcing the hospital to evacuate patients, the wildfires also destroyed a roadside coffee stall and caused a traffic accident in Tanah Laut regency on Tuesday.
Local residents said worsening haze had reduced visibility to just a few metres, causing a truck to overturn. No casualties were reported.
The haze also delayed several flights at Syamsudin Noor International Airport in Banjarbaru on Tuesday.
The independent forest monitoring platform Nusantara Atlas has recorded at least 895,657 ha of land burned across Indonesia since the start of the year, including in Kalimantan, Sumatra and Papua.
The fires have sent thick haze across parts of Indonesia and neighbouring Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines.
More than 20,200 ha of forest have burned in South Kalimantan since January.
Firefighting efforts in the region have been complicated by limited water supplies during the dry season, forcing crews to transport water from other locations to tackle the blazes, officials said.
As the wildfires spread, on Tuesday air quality in parts of South Kalimantan and neighbouring Central Kalimantan deteriorated to hazardous levels, according to the Environment Ministry.
Forestry Minister Raja Juli Antoni said on Monday that the government had revoked the business permits of five companies in Kalimantan over violations related to wildfires.
"The President ordered the revocation of these business permits to demonstrate that the law will be enforced without exception, against smaller companies as well as those at the top," Antoni said in Central Kalimantan on Monday.
The five companies hold a combined 92,464 ha of concessions across West Kalimantan, South Kalimantan and Central Kalimantan, according to the ministry.
A total of 1,169.13 ha within the five concessions had been affected by fires.
Antoni said the companies had violated their obligations as forestry concession holders, including the duty to protect their concession areas from wildfires.
He said the government hoped the action would deter other companies from starting fires or failing to take adequate measures to prevent and control them. - Jakarta Post/AN
