After the incident of forest fire that cleared 30 hectares of rehabilitated forest at BOS Foundation’s Orangutan Reintroduction Center at Samboja Lestari in early September, fire is raging once again in Samboja Lestari.
Bogor, September 23, 2015. Forest fire, which erupted this afternoon, spread quickly engulfing the rehabilitated forest at BOS Foundation’s Orangutan Reintroduction Center at Samboja Lestari. Fire first started near a portal that borders Samboja Lestari with Tani Bakti Village. At the time this news was written, fire was still blazing and had consumed roughly 100 hectares of forest.
At the moment, our Samboja Lestari team is still battling to extinguish the fire assisted by members of the Cavalry Detachment VI Mulawarman and the Regional Military Command. The staff of Samboja Lestari has also contacted the local Fire Department and the East Kalimantan Conservation of Natural Resources Authority (BKSDA), but have not received a response.
This is not the first incident in Samboja Lestari. Within the past month, on August 31 and September 1, an area belonging to Samboja Lestari was also engulfed by raging fire. At that time, fire occurred on two separate occasions (in the early morning and later reignited in the afternoon) and consumed around 30 hectares of Samboja Lestari’s 1,852-hectare forested land. Last week, Samboja Lestari team and a number of volunteers replanted a small part of the damaged land previously filled with dark red meranti trees.
In regard to today’s incident, we suspected that fire was ignited in part because of dry conditions and prolonged drought. So far, no one—humans, orangutans and other animals—has fallen victim. However, in addition to the dense haze shrouding the entire island of Kalimantan that has not been dealt with properly, we are still facing the risks of serious health conditions as a result of this incident. We are expecting actual support from various stakeholders, especially the East Kalimantan BKSDA to help us extinguish the fire in the orangutan rehabilitation center at Samboja Lestari, as well as serious actions from all levels of the government in tackling the haze disaster.
Editors Note :
ABOUT BOS FOUNDATION
Founded In 1991, the BOS Foundation is a non-profit Indonesian organization dedicated to conservation of Bornean orangutan and its habitat, working together with local communities, the Ministry of Environment and Forestry of the Republic of Indonesia and international partner organizations.
Currently the BOS Foundation is rehabilitating more than 700 orangutans with the support from 400 highly dedicated staff and experts in primatology, biodiversity, ecology, forest rehabilitation, agroforestry, community empowerment, communications, education, and orangutan welfare. For further informations please visit www.orangutan.or.id.
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