Police Padamkam Karhutla In Lengkiti OKU South Sumatra

OKU Police succeeded in extinguishing the fire of forest and land fires in Lengkiti District, Tuesday. (ANTARA/Edo Purmana/23)

Police officers from the Ogan Komering Ulu (OKU) Police, South Sumatra extinguished the forest and land fires (Karhutla) that occurred in Lengkiti District so that it did not spread widely.

Head of Public Relations of the OKU Police, AKP Budi Harsono, said that the forest fire incident that occurred on Saturday (5/8) at 16.00 WIB scorched at least about 10 hectares (Ha) of forest land in the area.

"The temporary assumption is that the fire comes from cigarette butts that are dumped by residents carelessly, causing forest and land fires," he said as quoted by ANTARA, Tuesday, August 8.

According to him, the fire was successfully extinguished after his party deployed dozens of joint personnel from the Police, TNI and transtib who struggled to extinguish the fire so as not to cause smoke.

"This morning at around 06.00 WIB the fire was successfully extinguished by our officers in the field," he said.

On this occasion, he appealed to the public not to throw cigarette butts carelessly, especially during the dry season because it can trigger a fire to cause forest and land fires.

Moreover, the Lengkiti District area is one of the areas in OKU Regency that is prone to forest and land fires because it is a hilly area and there are still many peatlands and agricultural areas belonging to the community that are flammable.

Therefore, his party also educates the public not to open agricultural land by burning it because it can cause forest and land fires and causing smog disasters.

"We carried out socialization by going directly to residents' houses in Lengkiti District so as not to burn forests to be used as agricultural land," he said.