Papua Forest Fire Haze Blankets Ambon, Maluku on Hotspot Alert
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- Kepala Dishut Maluku menyatakan kabut asap di Ambon berasal dari karhutla di Papua, Buru, dan Seram, bukan dari Pulau Ambon.
- Pemantauan harian via satelit dan patroli dilakukan di 11 kabupaten/kota untuk mencegah perluasan kebakaran.
- Status darurat belum ditetapkan karena kualitas udara dinilai belum mengganggu aktivitas, kesehatan, dan transportasi.
The city of Ambon has been blanketed by haze believed to originate from forest and land fires (karhutla) in several neighboring regions, especially Papua. The head of the Maluku Forestry Office, Haikal Baadila, said the haze covering the provincial capital did not come from Ambon Island but was carried from fire hotspots in Papua, Buru Island, and Seram Island.
“The haze in Ambon City right now does not purely come from forest and land fires on Ambon Island, but is carried from forest and land fires occurring in Papua, mostly in Papua, and a small portion from Buru Island and Seram Island,” Haikal said in Ambon on Thursday (8/10), as quoted by Antara.
Nevertheless, Haikal stressed that the forest and land fires on Ambon Island remain under control and have not entered the emergency category. According to him, a situation can only be categorized as severe if air quality deteriorates to the point of disrupting public activity, health, or transportation. “If air quality is already severe, then disrupts transportation, health and so on, only then do we consider it severe and there is an emergency response status issued by BNPB or BPBD,” he explained.
The Maluku Forestry Office, together with related agencies, continues monitoring and prevention efforts to anticipate the spread of forest and land fires. Monitoring is carried out every day using satellite imagery to detect hotspots across Maluku. “Every day we monitor through satellite imagery. There is an application built by the Ministry of Forestry (Kemenhut) so we can see hotspot points in Maluku,” Haikal said.
Beyond monitoring, prevention efforts are carried out through outreach and campaigns to communities in 11 regencies/cities as well as patrols in areas with the potential for forest and land fires. Several areas of concern in the monitoring include Buru Regency, East Seram, Central Maluku particularly the North Seram area, West Seram, and the Tanimbar Islands.
Haikal said Maluku's geographic condition as an archipelago is one of the challenges in handling forest and land fires, especially in mobilizing personnel and equipment to fire locations. Therefore, prevention is an important step to reduce the risk of fires spreading, including by raising public awareness so people do not burn land carelessly.
The Maluku Forestry Office also continues coordinating with local governments and related agencies to ensure every detected hotspot can be followed up immediately before it develops into a larger fire.
Although not yet under emergency status, deteriorating air quality can affect residents' health, especially vulnerable groups such as children and the elderly. Local governments are expected to be quick to provide the latest information and mitigation measures if the incoming haze continues to increase. The question is, will the alert status be raised if the intensity of forest and land fires in Papua and surrounding areas does not subside in the near future?
