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Regions brace for wildfire, haze as dry season peaks
Indonesia has experienced nearly 500 wildfires this year, more than three times the 160 fires recorded in 2022.
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A fire burns a plot of land on Aug. 31, 2023, in Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan. Palangkaraya Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) recorded 202 wildfires between January and August 2023 that burned a total of 153 hectares. (Antara/Auliya Rahman)
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ndonesia is battling an increased number of wildfires, and the haze they bring, as the dry season, which is expected to peak this month, intensifies across the country.
The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) warned that the country is expected to see less rainfall this year because of the El Niño climactic phenomenon, which brings hotter and drier weather to the Indonesian archipelago and prolongs the dry season.
The exacerbated dry season, which the BMKG estimates will peak between August and September, leads to a higher risk of wildfires. The country has seen 490 land and forest fires as of Saturday, according to the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), more than three times the 160 fires that were recorded in 2022.
Data from the Environment and Forestry Ministry has shown that Central Kalimantan, one of the most fire-prone regions, has recorded 202 forest and land fires this year, which have burned almost 3,000 hectares. It is among the provinces that declared a state of emergency in May because of the wildfires.
Palangkaraya, the provincial capital and largest city of Central Kalimantan, has recorded 87 forest fires since the start of the dry season, the local disaster agency reported.
Several fires can break out at different locations at once, including near residential areas, making efforts to extinguish them challenging because of limited firefighting personnel and drought-induced restriction of the water supply.
“The fires bring a thin haze that blankets Palangkaraya, especially during the morning and afternoon. Residents will smell a burned aroma during a wildfire,” Palangkaraya disaster mitigation agency (BPBD) official Heri Fauzi said as quoted by Antara.
