Joint Firefighting Team Takes Off to Douse Flames in S. Sumatra

The Jakarta Globe, Oct 11 2015


Jakarta. Indonesia kicked off its latest firefighting effort on Sunday morning, employing help from Singapore and Malaysia to extinguish land and forest fires in South Sumatra.

The joint task force deployed seven helicopters and three fixed-wing aircraft for the water bombing mission, while one Cesna plane was tasked for cloud seeding, according a statement from the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB).

Among them is a Malaysia-owned Bombardir 415 MP plane with the capacity of carrying six tons of water and will be on loan to Indonesia until Oct. 16.

Singapore's contribution comes in the form of a Chinook helicopter with a five-ton water capacity that will remain available through Oct. 23, the statement said.

An Australian support team, meanwhile, is scheduled to arrive in Palembang, South Sumatra, on Sunday, and will join the firefighting operation with a Hercules L 100 aircraft, capable of carrying 15 tons of water. The plane is expected to arrive on Tuesday or Wednesday and will remain on hand for five days.

Indonesia on Thursday finally accepted foreign help in its struggle to fight forest and land fires across the islands of Sumatra and Kalimantan ̶ some four months after haze first encroached the skies over Riau in late June and weeks after Singapore and Malaysia complained of thick smoke disrupting daily activities.



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