Star Metro - Schools closed as Indonesia battles wildfires

In West Kalimantan on the island of Borneo that Indonesia shares with Malaysia and Brunei, the mayor of Pontianak ordered schools closed due to the smoke wafting over the city from fires elsewhere.

Public records show Pontianak has tens of thousands of public school pupils.

Children will learn from home for as long as air quality remains poor, mayor Edi Rusdi Kamtono said in a statement Monday, without stating how many schools were affected.

"We have started to feel it, especially at night and in the morning, as haze has already blanketed the city of Pontianak," he said.

On the island of Java, firefighters battled flames for a ninth day at a national park that has lost 900 hectares to an inferno that broke out on Monday last week.

The blaze at the Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park, a major tourist attraction closed to visitors since Saturday, is one of several wildfires that have drawn in nearly 50,000 firefighters countrywide.

Indonesia is forecast to experience an unusually tough dry season this year with high risk for drought and wildfires due in part to the El Nino weather phenomenon, the BMKG weather agency has said.

More than 107,000 hectares of land have burnt countrywide so far this year.

Authorities insist that food stocks remain adequate.

- Hot July -

The fire at the Bromo park in East Java has consumed nearly 900 hectares, or more than 2,200 acres, by Tuesday morning.

This is equivalent to over 1,200 football fields and nearly two percent of the total park area.

"We’re making our best effort and mobilising everything... to extinguish and wet-down the area," local disaster official Satriyo Nurseno told AFP.

"We hope that today we can put out the fire in all areas, then carry out soaking so that the fire does not reignite."

Three water-bombing helicopters and fire trucks were providing support to about 200 firefighters, forest rangers, police and soldiers helping to put out the blaze.

According to the BNPB disaster agency, more than 48,000 personnel have been deployed to fight fires in six provinces.

And Security Minister Djamari Chaniago said Monday Indonesia has deployed 43 helicopters and up to 15 fixed-wing planes for cloud seeding where needed.

The process involves spraying particles such as silver iodide and salt from aircraft to produce rainfall, but depends on clouds being present.

As Indonesia braces for the worst effects of El Nino, the BMKG said the average air temperature in July was 27C -- higher than the 26.2C average.

It was the highest such jump for July since 1991.

El Nino is a naturally occurring climate phenomenon that brings worldwide changes in winds, air pressure and rainfall patterns.

In India and Southeast Asia, it typically causes drier conditions.

The last El Nino helped make 2023 and 2024 the two hottest years globally on record.

The land lost to wildfires in Indonesia so far this year is double the area burnt in 2023.

S.Cloutier--SMC