Peatland and Cigarette Butt were Not the Cause of Forest Fire
Land and forest fires in Riau Province were not caused by peatland and cigarette butt which were discarded by people. It was submitted by Dr. Erianto Indra Putra from Laboratory for Land and Forest Fires, Department of Silviculture, Faculty of Forestry, Bogor Agricultural University (Fahutan IPB) when answering the question of Mrs. Ita from Jakarta, one callers in the Dialog Interaktif Pakar of Bogor Agricultural University (IPB) in Aspirasi Merah Putih Broadcast, 93.75 FM, Radio Republik Indonesia (RRI), recently.
Dr. Erianto explained, the peatland actually would not be burned if there was no vandalism. The peat which had this sponge-like nature, when the rainy season it would be very wet even becoming the storage of natural water. When the dry season, the peat would issue the water slowly horizontally, so it would remain wet and looked stagnant throughout the year.
But, Dr.Erianto reminded, the peat would be very easy to dry if the water contained therein was dried through the making of canals that did not pay attention the hydrological aspect of peat. This was why the peaty areas that had been damaged or disturbed became highly flammable in the dry season.
Meanwhile responding to cigarette issues which could be the cause of fire, Dr. Erianto said, it was much less likely. “We did an experiment using five lit cigarette butts and deposited on top of a pile of dry pine litter. Besides the condition of hot air and open, we add the fan to strengthen the blowing to the cigarette butts. The result is no case of fire but only black imprint, because it does not reach the ignition point or ignition temperature which ranges between 23–28 degrees Celsius,” he explained.
Further Dr. Erianto in the dialogue which was emitted nationally provided illustration that the fire would not happen due to the friction between wood and wood or between branches with twigs or between foliage.
Root causes of land and forest fires in Riau that were ever recurring were due to the habits of the people in the use of fire to clear land. Results of hotspot recording from the satellite of Terra and Aqua with the censorship of MODIS showed that there were many hotspots detected originated from the plantation area.
Dr. Erianto invited all parties to also concern about this disaster. There should be no longer blame, there should be action to stop fires. “There have been many experts of fire in Indonesia. We have a long and complete track record that where and when the fire will occur. We already have a fairly comprehensive legislation in terms of fire management,” he explained. (wly)
