PONTIANAK. The Pontianak Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) has recently identified five to seven hot spots, caused not by forest fires but by residents burning trash near dry vegetation, causing the flames to spread to adjoining areas. “We detected five to seven spots at the same time. We have deployed fire trucks, but local authorities and residents are also expected to extinguish the fires themselves,” Pontianak BPBD head Aswin Taufik told The Jakarta Post on Monday. Pontianak, the capital of West Kalimantan province, does not have forests but has experienced several fires in empty fields near housing areas. Since July, dozens of hectares have caught fire. Some have occurred on peatland, where fires are more difficult to extinguish because they smolder underground, and they also cause haze.
Residents burning trash cause fires in Pontianak
PONTIANAK. The Pontianak Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) has recently identified five to seven hot spots, caused not by forest fires but by residents burning trash near dry vegetation, causing the flames to spread to adjoining areas. “We detected five to seven spots at the same time. We have deployed fire trucks, but local authorities and residents are also expected to extinguish the fires themselves,” Pontianak BPBD head Aswin Taufik told The Jakarta Post on Monday. Pontianak, the capital of West Kalimantan province, does not have forests but has experienced several fires in empty fields near housing areas. Since July, dozens of hectares have caught fire. Some have occurred on peatland, where fires are more difficult to extinguish because they smolder underground, and they also cause haze.