Kalimantan forest fires raging out of control

KUALA LUMPUR: Forests fires in Kalimantan are raging out of control and rain is the only hope of stopping its spread.
Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Wan Junaidi Jaafar said while forest fires in Sumatra have reduced, those in Kalimantan had worsened significantly.
"The haze from Kalimantan are not only affecting Sabah and Sarawak now, the wind patterns are also spreading it to west coast of peninsula Malaysia, Singapore, and even the Sulu Islands in the Philippines.
"The API readings there are over 2,000, and the fires in Kalimantan are almost out of control. Our only hope is rain as it will dampen the soil and forests which will stop the fire from spreading," Wan Junaidi told a press conference today.
He said the high API readings would also mean that rain in the area may have high acidity, which probably gave rise to rumours that Malaysia is using toxic chemicals to seed clouds.
Wan Junaidi denied this and said the Science, Technology, and Innovation Ministry (Mosti) had confirmed that only salt and water is used in cloud seeding operations.
"We do not use any harmful chemicals in cloud seeding, Mosti had confirmed with me that they are only using salt and water, which can be found even on our dinner tables," he said.
Wan Junaidi also denied that the haze is killing poultry and vegetables in Kedah, as there is currently no proof to conclusively link the deaths to haze.
He also elaborated that rain may start showing noticeable acidity levels when API is over 500, which is categorised as "very hazardous" and will be followed by emergency declarations.
Meanwhile, he said the government is in the process of formulating a law similar to Singapore's Transboundary Haze Pollution Act, which will allow prosecution of Malaysian companies involved in Indonesian land-clearing by fire.
Wan Junaidi said it is still in the beginning of the formulating process and will not be ready any time soon as there are many other procedures to follow before it can be tabled in Parliament as a Bill.
The National Anti-Haze Task Force will also be meeting for the third time in three weeks to discuss further measures to safeguard public health.
Among the measures, Wan Junaidi said, is to distribute the appropriate face mask to the public as not all face masks can filter out haze particles.
He said the task force is also planning to create more awareness on these masks so the public can differentiate and purchase effective masks, such as N95 face masks.