Karhutla In The Central Aceh Takegon Pinus Forest Reaches 15 Hectares

Land forest fires in the mountainous area of the outskirts of Lake Lut Tawar, Takengon, Central Aceh Regency, Tuesday (13/6/2023). ANTARA/Kurnia Muhadi

BANDA ACEH - A forest and land fire (karhutla) hit a mountainous area of pine forests in the outskirts of Lake Lut Tawar, Takengon, Central Aceh Regency.

Head of UPTD of the Aceh 2 Forest Management Unit (KPH) Office Yusriza Agustian said forest and land fires had occurred since Monday (12/6) and had not been extinguished until now with a total burned area of 15 hectares.

"The fire is difficult to extinguish because it is on a steep hilly slope," said Yusriza as quoted by ANTARA, Wednesday, June 14.

According to him, the hot weather and dry land factors also trigger the hotspots to continue to burn and at any time the fire can grow again.

This weather factor, he said, also has the potential to trigger an initial land fire, although the exact cause cannot be known.

His party together with a joint team from elements of the TNI, Polri, BPBD, and the community are currently on standby and continue to try to extinguish the hotspots so that fires do not continue to spread.

Previously, the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) appealed to the people of Aceh to be aware of the potential for forest and land fires (karhutla) as a result of two climate change phenomena, namely El Nino and Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) which resulted in drought in Indonesia.

"So forest and land fires in this period have more potential to occur, due to drought. Then also because of the increasing surface temperature, the land is flammable," said Head of BMKG Class I Meteorological Station Sultan Iskandar Muda (SIM) Nasrol Adil.

Especially, continued Nasrol, areas in the central part of Aceh such as Central Aceh Regency, Bener Meriah, Gayo Lues, Southeast Aceh, and other mountainous areas.

The hill or mountain foot area is very vulnerable to forest and land fires. For today and yesterday, our satellite has not been monitored for hot spots, but we still ask people not to clear land by burning," he said.