T

housands of people in Jambi have been suffering from acute respiratory infections (ISPA) caused by worsening haze from widespread land and forest fires in the province.

'€œISPA cases are found in all of the regencies and cities across Jambi. The cases are mostly found in Jambi city, where from June to July this year the number of ISPA cases reached 3,910, followed by East Tanjungjabung regency with 2,390 cases and Muarojambi regency with 1,690 cases,'€ said the Jambi Health Office'€™s Disease Control and Environmental Health Affairs head Kaswendi on Wednesday.

He added that those most susceptible to the disease are children, especially toddlers.

In regards to the matter, Jambi City Health Office head Ida Yuliati said her office had provided 200 masks to each community health clinic (Puskesmas) in the city as part of an effort to prevent an increase in the number of patients.

'€œWe also provided 1,000 masks to the Education Office to be distributed to schools because children are exposed to cough and cold,'€ said Ida.

Separately, the West Sumatra Forestry Office is making strenuous efforts to prevent land and forest fires from escalating during the long drought.

Early this week, two land and forest fires reportedly broke out in Tanah Datar and Lima Puluh Kota regencies and razed dozens of hectares of forest.

The biggest fire took place in Pangian village, Lintau Buo district, Tanah Datar as about 30 hectares of production forest and rubber plantation were destroyed in two days. The fire started on Monday, but was extinguished on Wednesday.

'€œThis is the third fire this year. The two earlier fires took place in other places and razed areas of less than five hectares,'€ said the head of the Tanah Datar Agriculture, Forestry and Plantation Office, Refriasel.

Two fires took place in Limapuluh Kota, one in Sarilamak village and the other in Taram village, both in Harau district. The fires, which were extinguished on Tuesday, destroyed more than five hectares of agricultural land and shrubs.

In Banyumas regency, Central Java, a fire destroyed a forest on Mount Slamet, at an elevation of around 2,900 meters, on Tuesday night.

As of Wednesday afternoon, the fire was still flaring at a height of around 8 meters and had scorched around 50 hectares of forest.

That fire was the second on Mount Slamet in the past week. Earlier, a forested area in Tegal regency part of the mountain was also razed, simultaneously with a forest fire on Mount Merbabu. The first fire on Mount Slamet was put out after three days. The fire gutted a total area of 15 hectares.

'€œBased on our observations since Tuesday evening, around 25 fires razed the forest in Banyumas. So far, seven of the fires have been doused,'€ said East Banyumas Integrated Forest Management (KPH) unit spokesman Taufik Didiet.

He added his office, the Indonesian Military (TNI), police, the local Perhutani state forestry enterprise, Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) and Search and Rescue coordinated to extinguish the fire.

The joint firefighting team claimed they faced difficulty in putting out the fire as its location was far up the slopes near the mountain peak.

'€œThe firefighters had to walk for around eight hours from the Kalipagu post in Ketenger village, Baturraden district, which is the last village bordering directly with the forest,'€ said Taufik.

As from on Mt. Slamet, fires are currently burning areas on Mount Lawu and are reportedly approaching residential areas in Jenawi and Ngargoyoso districts, Karanganyar regency, Central Java.

'€œTeams of volunteers [who will help douse the fires] have not yet reached the locations since it'€™s very dangerous,'€ Karanganyar BPBD head Nugroho admitted.

The fires have also threatened a historic Cetho Temple complex built during the Majapahit Kingdom in the 15th century on the slope of the mountain, as well as Mount Lawu National Park.

'€” Ganug Nugroho Adi from Surakarta and Agus Maryono from Banyumas also contributed to the story