UNDERSTANDING INDONESIAN PEAT FIRE TYPOLOGY FOR FIRE CONTROL AND PREVENTION MEASURES

Severe forest and peat fires in Indonesia have occurred more frequently in recent years. These fires have been associated with various types of ecosystems and land uses, ranging from the simplest to the most complex ones. However, recent fire control efforts in the country have primarily focused on fire suppression efforts instead of preventive measures. Fire prevention efforts are mostly statements of empty jargon rather than specific actions or policies. Fire suppression activities have been greatly preferred but have proceeded without properly accounting for whether the fires are on mineral soils or occurring within peat soils. Efforts to extinguish fires should be based upon their typology to be effective, especially for peat fires that having the distinct behavior of smoldering within the peat soils. However, field observations have shown that generalized approaches for extinguishing fire are undertaken on bot mineral soils where flaming surface fires predominate and peat soils where smoldering ground fires are common. Peat fires cannot be extinguished using the same suppression measures used for flaming surface fires and will, therefore, not achieve effective results without consideration of their unique burning typology. The severe peat fires in 2015 should be taken into account as a lesson learned and impetus for better peat fire control and prevention in the future. Keywords: Peat fires, fire typology, fire control, fire prevention