Firefighters, villagers unite as wildfires threaten Sumatran elephant habitat
Wildfires have been burning inside the Padang Sugihan Wildlife Reserve since August. By early September, approximately 2,300 hectares of the reserve’s 88,148 ha had been burned, accounting for about 2.61 percent of its total area.
Wildfires have been raging inside the Padang Sugihan Wildlife Reserve since August, with about 2,300 hectares already scorched, or roughly 2.61 percent of the reserve's total area. As South Sumatra grapples with the fires, conservation officials, firefighters, and local residents are banding together to safeguard the area's elephants within the Padang Sugihan Wildlife Reserve in Banyuasin regency.
Suharto, leading the firefighting team at the Jalur 21 Elephant Conservation Center, emphasizes that their top priority is to protect unburned areas and the elephants' food sources. The primary challenge, however, is finding sufficient water, as crews often need to walk several kilometers to locate sources, which have often dried up.
Establishing water sources within the reserve could expedite firefighting efforts and make it easier to extinguish the flames, rather than wasting time searching for water and transporting equipment. Since aerial water bombing cannot reach embers beneath the ground, ground operations remain crucial for fully extinguishing the fires in the reserve's peatlands.
Written by urgent.news from The Jakarta Post's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
