WKS Deploys 2 Water Bombing Helicopters To Put Out Forest And Land Fires In Jambi

Air photos from the water bombing helicopter belonging to PT WKS also extinguished the fire on the oil palm plantation in Tanjabbar, Jambi, Thursday. (ANTARA/Ho/WKS)

JAMBI - PT Wira Karya Sakti (WKS) a subsidiary of Sinar Mas participated in deploying two units of its water bombing helicopters to assist the Forest and Land Fire Task Force (Karhutla) in extinguishing fires that burned land and forests in several districts in Jambi Province.

"In addition to deploying two helicopters, WKS also deployed a Rapid Response Team (TRC) to extinguish the fire that devoured shrubs and oil palm plantations in Jambi," said Fire Operation Management (FOM) of PT WKS Destian Nori, in Jambi as reported by ANTARA, Thursday, August 10.

The two helicopters deployed today to help extinguish the air for the forest and land fires that occurred in Lubuk Tertang Village, Betara District, West Tanjung Jabung Regency (Tanjabbar).

The fire has devoured shrubs and oil palm land owned by the company and individuals there.

Meanwhile, the Head of BPBD Tanjab Barat, Zulfikri, said that the fire was currently being extinguished after Water Bombing was carried out using helicopters from PT WKS Type Mi-171i PK-BST as many as 18 sort and now there is cooling by the ground team around the location.

The fire was in the coordinates of S:-1,12248 degrees, E:103,37970 degrees, where based on reports in the field that the wind was strong enough that caused the fire to burn and enlarge to burn dry land and besides that, the land around the location is also a flammable peatland.

"We can control the fire and hopefully the cooling process will be completed soon, which is still being checked for the burned land area," said Zulfikri.

He also mentioned that during the blackout, two helicopters, Mi-171i and Bell 412 EP belonging to PT WKS were deployed, this was done because the burned area could be estimated at five Ha and also the tongue or hotspots were spread over a few lands.

The land team was also deployed with the Tanjabbar Regency Karhutla Task Force to localize the spread of fire.