Jakarta, Sept. 14 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s Self-Defense Forces will soon begin work to extinguish forest fires in western Kalimantan, Indonesia, in its first firefighting operation abroad. The Maritime SDF’s Kunisaki transport vessel, carrying three CH-47 large helicopters of the Ground SDF, arrived at a port in West Kalimantan province on Thursday. SDF personnel continued coordinating with local authorities on Sunday. The operation is expected to last about a week. The helicopters will scoop river water into large buckets and drop it from the air. The operation, initially scheduled to begin Sunday, has been postponed because smoke from the fires reduced visibility. Indonesia has been hit by a string of forest fires, with fires in Kalimantan starting to worsen around August. Open burning to clear land is believed to be among the causes, with the fires expanding due to the influence of the El Nino phenomenon. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
Japan SDF Ready for 1st Overseas Fire Response in Indonesia
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