Fire prevention pilot programmes making some progress in Indonesia

Jakarta

ON A RECENT afternoon in April, Craig Tribolet surveys an expanse of tinder-dry scrub not far outside of the village of Sering in the province of Riau. In October last year, three walls of fires, which were almost certainly deliberately lit, merged to lay waste to what was once a communal forest perched atop a dome of peat.

Just three days after the last gasps of the rainy season, leaves pulverise under foot in 36-degree heat. Here and there dead trees break up the 11-hectare clearing. Mr Tribolet, who oversees fire protection for Asia Pacific Resources International Holdings Ltd (April), was at this spot in October. His men ran two lengths of 60 metre hoses from water trucks parked on the access road to fend off the blaze. He reckons he'll be back to this spot before too long.