Six-fold increase in forest fires as temperatures rise in many states

By Ishan Kukreti | 10 May 2019

 

The Forest Survey of India’s large forest fires monitoring programme data shows that there are 192 large, active fires in the country today

As many states face higher than normal maximum temperature, instances of large fires have increased more than six times across the country within this week.

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Contract signed to lease helicopters to help fight forest fires

By: Annette Chrysostomou | 10 May 2019

 

The forestry department has signed a contract with a private company for the lease of two helicopters to fight fires during the summer, the department announced on Friday.

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Firefighters rush to tackle 35-acre wildfire near Sugar Pine Reservoir: ‘We’ve got a north wind’

 

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Regime seeks neighbours’ help on smog

Writer: Gregory Morrissey
Original Source/Writer: Post Resporters
10 Apr 2019 at 12:53

 

The government has sought cooperation from Myanmar and Laos to help mitigate haze, which is wreaking havoc in the North, according to Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha.

Speaking after a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Gen Prayut said the bush fires and haze in the northern provinces have diminished, though the situation also depends on neighboring countries.

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Responders Quickly Extinguish One of Korea’s Largest Wildfires

 

Two people are dead and hundreds displaced after a massive fire swept through several towns in South Korea’s northeastern Gangwon province last week. The blaze was extinguished within a few days thanks to quick action from emergency responders, despite high winds that hindered the use of firefighting helicopters and helped the fire spread more quickly.

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Fire burns almost 1,700 hectares of land, forests in Riau as haze spreads

Fire burns almost 1,700 hectares of land, forests in Riau as haze spreads

PUBLISHED MAR 10, 2019, 8:42 PM SGT

JAKARTA (THE JAKARTA POST/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) – A forest fire in Indonesia’s Riau province that has been burning for more than a week has expanded as haze spreads to more cities in the area.

The Riau Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD Riau) revealed that, as of Sunday (March 10), the fire had spread across nearly 1,700 hectares of land from a little over 1,100 ha on Feb 28, causing smoke in Pekanbaru and Dumai.

BPBD Riau acting head Ahmadsyah Harrofie said Bengkalis regency was currently the worst affected area, as quoted by tempo.co.

Forest fires are still spreading throughout Dumai, Meranti Islands and five other regencies. Ahmadsyah said the agency’s task force was continuing its attempt to extinguish fires in all areas.

Riau Forest Rescue Network (Jikalahari) coordinator Made Ali added that 63 out of 139 hot spots this week could potentially further ignite a fire.

However, he said that the air condition in Pekanbaru remained “good”.

According to the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), the air pollution standard index (ISPU) in Pekanbaru and Dumai is still at an “acceptable” level.

Link: https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/fire-burns-almost-1700-hectares-of-land-forests-in-riau-as-haze-spreads