South Kalimantan BPBD Receives AS350B3e Helicopters For Handling Forest And Land Fires

Helicopter type AS350B3e PK DAM for handling forest and land fires (karhutla) upon arrival at Syamsudin Noor Airport, Banjarbaru City, South Kalimantan, Sunday (2/7/2023). (ANTARA/HO-Pemprov South Kalimantan)

BANJARBARU - The Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) of South Kalimantan Province (Kalsel) received assistance from one unit of the AS350B3e PK DAM helicopter type from the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB).

"We have received the helicopter at Syamsudin Noor Airport, the helicopter will immediately be used to handle forest and land fires areas that are difficult to access," said South Kalimantan BPBD Chief Executive Raden Suria Fadliansyah as quoted by ANTARA, Selas, a July 4.

Suria said that the standard operating procedure (SOP) for helicopter flights had been in collaboration with the Syamsudin Noor Banjarbaru Air Force Base (Lanud) last month.

"There is already a heli flight SOP, but technically we still need an internal meeting," he said.

He said the helicopters received had two functions, namely for air patrols to control hotspots in airport areas which were designated as priority areas for preventing smog fog due to forest and land fires.

Helicopters also function as water bombings, namely dropping water bombs from the air with a capacity of about 1,000 liters of water.

Suria also said that his party was coordinating with the South Kalimantan Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), Syamsudin Noor Air Base, South Kalimantan Police and related institutions.

He revealed that the arrival of one helicopter unit was a form of quick response from BNPB for handling forest and land fires in South Kalimantan.

Meanwhile, the South Kalimantan BPBD last June applied for assistance as many as 10 helicopters including two units for forest and land fire patrols, while eight special water bombing units were used to extinguish forest and land fires.

"We continue to coordinate with BNPB, now we maximize one unit that has arrived first," he said.