Forest and land fires in Indonesia’s Bangka Belitung province have spread into a densely populated residential area, the local disaster mitigation agency said on Monday, damaging at least 300 houses and forcing the evacuation of 500 people. The fire began on Saturday afternoon in Serdang village in the region of South Bangka, and continued until late on Sunday, the agency said in a statement, noting that Indonesia is currently battling its most intense wildfires in 11 years, mainly on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo.
This marks the first time this year that wildfires have caused damage to hundreds of houses. Strong winds enabled the fire to spread into the residential areas, where 305 houses were completely destroyed, the agency said. At least 1,800 people were affected by the fire, and around 500 people were evacuated to the nearest school building and mosque, the agency said, adding that no casualties have been reported while the blaze had burned 8.3 hectares of land.
Explaining the challenges faced by emergency workers, the agency said that strong winds, peatland terrain, limited water supplies and the use of wood to construct houses in the affected settlements had made it more difficult for firefighters to contain the fires. In response to the crisis, the agency has set up evacuation tents and a public kitchen, and has distributed food, water and clothing to those displaced.
Statistics from January through July this year indicate that fires scorched around 202,000 hectares across Indonesia, with non-governmental organisations estimating that an additional 600,000 hectares or more may have been burned in the months that followed.
(Reuters Inputs)
